Stuck in The Middle
by Anasatsia98
Summary: Delaeney Emerson- Gale was left with the Heck family at age four. As she grows older, she notices how things change and shift. Delaeney has big dreams for a small town girl. Can she make those dreams come true.
1. Pilot

Pilot

"Hello? Hello?" Can you hear me? Oh, damn it."

A woman in a Wonder Woman costume stood in the middle of a road, in the middle of nowhere, holding up her phone in hope of getting a signal.

"Come on! Can you hear me?"- _Some people call this the middle of nowhere-_ "Can you hear me? Hello? Hello?"

 _You know, one of those places you fly over on your way from somewhere else to somewhere else, but you wouldn't live there._

Over the intercom on an airplane, a flight attendant announces,

"Folks, right now we are flying over the great state of Indiana, if you'd like to take a look."

The passengers roll their eyes and continue doing whatever.

 _Well, look down next time, and you'll see us down here in the middle—Orson, Indiana, heart of the heartland, proud home of Little Betty snack cakes, the demolition derby for the homeless and the world's largest polyurethane cow._

 _So how'd I end up in the middle of the road in this get up?_

"Hello? No." The women said as she walked through a corn maze.

"Bars! I got bars!" She cheered as she climbed up a Utility pole.

 _Guess it all started a couple of weeks ago, and no, I'm not an actual superhero, not unless you count getting my kids and Delaeney up every morning and out the door for school every morning._

~8~

A short, middle aged woman threw a frozen pancake into the microwave. She had thin, brown hair that landed just above her shoulders. This is the mother, Frankie Heck.

"I made breakfast! Come on, we're late! Let's go, let's go!" Frankie called as she sorted through the lunches.

A young boy, around the age of 7, made his way into the kitchen. He had brown hair that was buzzed cut and was holding a book. Placing down his book, he pulled out a pair of sopping wet clothes from his backpack and placed them on the table.

 _That's my youngest- Brick._

 _You know how you think that giving a kid a cool name will make him cool? It doesn't._

"Okay, now listen," Frankie coached Brick, turning to face him, "Today at recess, I don't want you wandering around alone on the perimeter. All right? Makes you an easy target, you know? Like—like a gazelle that gets separated from the pack."

Frankie handed Brick his pancake.

"You've gotta find yourself a group of friends and just stand near them."

"You know you're my hero, right, mom?" Brick asked as he gnawed on the pancake.

"Thank you, Honey. Eat your pancake." Frankie said as she shuffled through some paper.

"It's still frozen."

"Well, lick it. It will last longer."

Mike, the father of the bunch, entered the room and headed for the fridge. He had short, graying hair and towered over Frankie.

"Hey, Mike, have you seen that envelope with my driver's license from the D.M.V? I need for work. Why is this place such a mess!"

A shuffling was heard as their oldest child entered the room. He had shaggy black hair that was curled and blue grey eyes. He only wore a pair of boxers as he walked over to the cabinet.

 _That one over there would be Axl. Since he hit 15, he hibernates in his room and only comes out to paw through are food and shout off some sarcastic comments. Most of the time, his best friend, Delaeney, tries to keep him in line._

"Oh, we're out of chips. Nice job, mom." Axl remarks, closing the cabinet door.

"Yeah, I can't hear you if you don't have pants on." Frankie shot back, tossing his pants to him.

"AXL!" a loud screech shot through the house.

A smirk slowly made its way onto Axl's face as a teenage girl ran into the kitchen.

The girl had had thick, wavy auburn hair that went to her mid back and sharp green eyes. She was short, coming at 5'2. She also had the pale skin and a dash of freckles across her nose.

"Axl, where are my glasses." the girl asked, narrowing her eyes threateningly.

"Laynee, I don't know what you are talking about."

"Axl! Seriously!"

Axl reached behind him and tossed her her black nerd glasses. The girl put them on and grabbed her backpack, shoving all her homework inside.

 _That's Delaeney._

 _She's not ours._

 _Delaeney's parents were our friends but they were no longer capable of taking care of Laynee. So, when she was 4, we took her in. Her parents often send us checks in thanks of taking care of her and often send her presents and cards. Laynee gets along great with everyone here, but her relationship with Axl is… special. They are very close but very distant at the same time. She shares a room with Sue but sometimes she has sleepovers with Axl. She happens to call us Mom and Dad, not that we mind._

"Mom, where's my homework?"

"Here Brick." Laynee said as she tossed Brick his homework.

Racing into the laundry room, Laynee found Sue holding a pair of ruined leg warmers. Sue had long brown hair that was parted down the middle and braces. Laynee gave Sue a shrug when Sue gave her a pleading look before she grabbed her shoes and put them on as Sue went to her Mom for help.

 _That's Sue._

 _She's been going through a bit of an awkward stage for the past 13 years._

Laynee rushed over to Axl and grabbed his jacket before he could put it on. Giving him a triumph look, she raced to the door where she waited for everyone to join her.

"Dude, Sue is joining the Show Choir." Axl gossiped to Laynee as they all waited for Frankie.

Laynee gave a snort and tossed Axl his bag as Axl took Sue's and held it up where she couldn't reach it. This lead to the the game of Mom.

"Mom."

"Mom"

"Mom"

"Mom"

"Mom, he's not giving me my backpack. Mom!"

Laynee sighed and grabbed Brick's hand as they walked to the car. Yep, Brick was now her favorite.

~8~

Frankie walked into the house holding bags of drive thru.

"I made dinner!" She called and the family swarmed around her.

A chorus of 'Thank you' went around as they made their way back to the couch.

Axl slinked over and grabbed his food before turning and heading back to his room. Laynee sat on the couch in between Sue and Brick.

"Hey, underpants, you think you're too good for us? We are a family, and we are going to eat together as a family." Frankie demanded and Axl groaned before walking to the couch, pulling Brick out of his spot and sitting down next to Laynee.

"Mom!" Brick complained but Laynee shushed him and sat him in the gap between her and Sue.

"This is okay, quick, let's hear about everybody's day." Frankie said as a commercial came on the TV.

"Mine sucked." Axl stated.

"Next"

"I've decided to go to Princeton." Laynee claimed as she ate another fry.

"Nice."

"Well, ahem, I'm trying to decide what number I should do for my show choir audition." Sue told them.

"Really?" Laynee questioned with a smile on her face.

"Oh my God." Axl groaned and she gave him a look.

"What? Does it really matter what song you pick? Cause there's no way you're gonna make it."

"Mom" Sue cried.

"Mike," Frankie warned.

"Axl." Mike stated.

Laynee sighed and blocked out the rest of the conversation. The consistency of the arguments and teasing between Sue and Axl and, frankly, she often got bored of it. She did remember, though, how when she was younger Sue, Axl, and her were 'buddy-buddy' until Axl and her hit middle school. Sighing, Delaeney got up and threw away her trash before heading off to bed.

~8~

Laynee sat next to Axl in the kitchen. Mike stood in front of them and you can practically see the steam pouring out of his ears. While Mike scolded them, Laynee glared at Axl who glared right back at her. It wasn't her fault that they were in this mess, it was all Axl's.

"Now you're suspended for three games? What the hell is the matter with you? You should be glad the Delaeney was able to shorten it to three games. But now you given her three detentions!" Mike ranted.

The door slammed and Frankie rushed into the room.

"What did they do?"

"He called his coach a moron and Laynee tried reasoning with the coach which earned her three detentions!"

"You always call him a moron." Axl shot back as he finally lifted his glare from Laynee's cold face.

"He called for a bombon 4th and 1," Laynee quoted Axl, looking at Frankie and Mike with an innocent look in her eyes.

"You think you're some sort of big shot just cause you play ball? Well, the smart- mouth attitude goes away today." Mike commanded.

"Whatever," Alx rolled his eyes.

"That's it! Go to your room."

Axl huffed and got up pulling Laynee by the wrist and dragging her behind him.

"No, wait. You like your room. Go to Sue's room!"

Axl groaned and took Laynee's hand this time, pulling her to Sue's room only for Mike to yell,

"Delaeney, go to Axl's room."

Laynee groaned and marched to Axl's room. Together they slammed the door shut causing an echo to sound all around. Delaeney looked around Axl's room wondering what could entertain her while she waited to be released.

~8~

Seeing that Sue actually accomplished something in her life, Frankie and Mike could only agree that it was right to throw her a party the afternoon before the show. Laynee sat by the pool with an umbrella covering her skin. She NEVER tans, only burns.

Frankie soon called everyone in for dinner and after that they all left for the show.

The show was… stupid.

Laynee was dying on the sidelines as she watched people sing and dance. There was even a pregnant girl, which made the show a bit interesting.

"I don't see Sue." Laynee whispered to Axl.

"What- no way- Sue's on stage crew. That's the only thing lamer than the actual show choir." Axl whispered gleefully.

Let's just say that the night ended with Sue getting kicked off the squad.

~8~

Laynee and the rest of the crew stopped the car to see Frankie eating a bar off the road. After teasing her for a bit, they allowed her into the car where they gave her the dinner.

 _Now I know this is my life. It's not gonna be in People Magazine or anything but you know what, I got it good._


	2. The Cheerleader

The Cheerleader

 _Out in the middle, people are straight shooters. They just say it like it is. Well, I got two of those types in my house as well. Mike and Delaeney seem to find joy in giving people the dead truth. Now, it's not bad to be an honest person but sometimes it's not the right moment to be honest. Luckily, Laynee takes it on herself to be brutally honest when she's in a bad mood and the rest of the time she tries to be encouraging. Key word is tries._

~8~

The Heck family was eating dinner on the couch when Sue brought up the topic of joining the swim team. Delaeney groaned and snuggled closer to Axl accepting the warmth that raided off of him. Delaeney wasn't trying to be rude; it was just the way she was. It was funny at first to see Sue fail but after a while it got sort of sad. She did admire Sue's courage to never give up.

"Do you want to come watch me swim laps at the pool?" Sue hopefully questioned her dad.

"Sounds boring."

"Mike." Frankie exclaimed.

"It does."

"Mike."

"You saying my name over and over doesn't make it sound less boring." Mike counter attacked.

 _But sometimes the family needs more than honesty. It needs a cheerleader, and that's me._

"You know, Sue, I think what your dad is saying is that it sounds like a lot of fun." Frankie tried to smooth Mike's rough truth.

"I'll come, Sue. I really want to go swimming anyways." Delaeney commented leaning forward and pulling away from Axl only for Axl to groan and pull her back.

The family's attention traveled back to the TV. Only a few minutes into the show, the dryer started to rattle. They ignored it at first but as the show crescendo so did the rattling.

"The dryer's making that noise again." Brick said and then whispering, "Noise again."

"What noise? Your dad fixed it. It's working great now." Frankie responded fully tuned into the TV.

Delaeney rolled her eyes and cracked her knuckles against her head.

"Damn thing's on its last legs. I can't hear the TV." Mike complained.

"No, we can't afford a new dryer right now. It's fine."

"Mom, my, err… parents check should be arriving soon. You could use that money to buy a new dryer." Delaeney told her.

Laynee was not really sure what to call her biological parents since she didn't really have any clear remembrance of them. She could call the Rebecca and Jacob but she wasn't even sure if those were her parent's real names…

"Aww, thanks sweetie. Did anyone get the mail? Get more pop." Frankie asked as she got up.

"Axl come on. Let's go" Mike commanded and Axl groaned as he got up and walked over to the counter.

Delaeney snickered enjoying Axl's misery. It was comical to see Axl have to follow a parent around for TWO whole weeks.

"Shut up." Axl shouted from the kitchen.

As Mike and Axl came back into the room, Axl jumped onto Delaeney and refuse to get up as she struggled underneath his body weight. He may look skinny, but there HAD to muscle underneath. If not, than what was holding her down? She knew she wasn't that weak.

 _Axl had told us he was at church group when he was actually sticking his tongue down some girl's throat at the mall. So he had to stay within 5 feet of a parent at all times._

"Oh my God. Mike!" Delaeney heard Frankie scream from the kitchen hallway.

She suddenly stormed into the living room holding a bunch of papers.

She looked up at him in despair,

"It's 2009."

Rushing to his feet, Mike ran to Frankie's side.

"What? Already?"

"Yeah, Mike. How did this happen?" Frankie gasped.

"Um… No payments till 2009?" Delaeney guessed remembering all the times Mike and Frankie returned with something and saying 'no payments till 2009'.

"Great. Now with interest, we owe $650 on a VCR we sold at the garage sale last year for 2 bucks." Frankie cried out.

Suddenly Frankie's whole aura seemed to shift.

"You know what? It's fine. It'll be fine. We're fine."

Delaeney gaped at her.

"Mom… you okay?" She questioned trying to shift Axl off of her.

"These things have a way of working themselves out. As long as the dryer hangs on and I sell a car this month, we're gonna be fine."

The family all started to relax again thinking that things would be fine and the dryer went crazy. It started shaking dangerously and the clanging was increasing. Immediately, they all sat up straight looking into the washroom and at the dryer. Axl wrapped his arms around Delaeney small structure almost as if he was protecting her from any possible harm. Suddenly, the dryer tipped over and fell onto the floor with a loud crash. They all looked at each other with wide eyes.

 _Fortunately, out here, you always have neighbors you can count on._

"Hello there. My name is Delaeney Emerson-Gale. I was just wondering if I could use your dryer. My parents aren't home and ours is broken." Delaeney asked a women in her young 20's, while she held a basket of dirty laundry.

The lady, who's name turned out to be Erin, nodded her head and Delaeney quickly rushed inside the house. Following the women towards the washroom. She hated lying to people but sometimes it was for the greater good.

 _So the busted dryer piled on to the whole 2009 thing meant that we were gonna have to cut corners fast. First up, a trip to the Frugal Hoosier, Indiana's number one expired food store._

~8~

"So are we, like, poor now?" Axl asked walking down the grocery isle with Sue, Frankie, Brick, and Delaeney. His hand loosely clung on to Delaeney's.

"No, we're not poor," Frankie tried to push her son's worry away, "We're just thrifty."

Frankie stopped in front of the frozen food section.

"We're trying something new called living within our means."

"You mean we've been living outside our means?" Delaeney asked with wide eyes, "Oh God."

"You should be thanking me," Frankie turned and pointed at Delaeney, "Listen, smart consumers—they're the kids who are popular."

Delaeney scoffed,

"Makes sense, my parents were popular."

Axl tugged Delaeney closer to him in an ' I'm- trying- to- comfort- you' form. Laynee smiled wrapped her arm around Axl's shoulder in a side hug.

"Brick, shake some of those unmarked cans and see if you can find peas." Frankie commanded, mentally awing at the display of affection between her son and Delaeney.

"Okay? We're listening for peas, people." Frankie alerted the people in the store.

As they waited for the peas, Frankie's phone went off and she had to excuse herself. Sue turned to Laynee.

"Hey Laynee, I was wondering if you could come with me and help me find some womanly things." Sue said turning to Laynee.

Axl gave Sue a mortified look and let go of Delaeney's hand.

"Go."

As they walked down the aisles, Sue suddenly stopped and Laynee stopped with her.

"Okay, I was lying." Sue gave up before getting to the point.

"I noticed. You haven't gotten your womanly pride," Delaeney stated, crossing her arms.

"How'd you know?!"

"You would've probably made a big deal out of it."

"I know where you're going every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday night." Sue pointed an accusing finger at Delaeney.

"What! Sue, how many people have you told?" Laynee immediately panicked.

Sue gave her a gentle smile,

"I haven't told anyone. I just wanted to let you know that I fully support what you are doing."

Laynee nearly died of relief. Giving Sue a hug, Delaeney whispered,

"You're one of my closest friends EVER. Thank you, Sue. It means a lot."

Once they got back, Axl immediately latched himself to Laynee again and Sue picked put a packed of fish from the fridge.

"No fish," Frankie said as she turned to them before going back to her phone call.

Sue placed the fish back.

"Okay, kids, new plan," Frankie said as she hung up, "Gotta get to work early."

"But what about the pool? You promised you'd watch me practice for swim tryouts." Sue complained.

"And you said you would take me to the library." Brick added, "The Wheel of Nuldoid—I have to get it before anyone else gets it. You promised."

 _Promised._

"Okay, I know I didn't promise that many things. I'm not that nice." Frankie deducted.

"Listen, we'll swing by the library, and then when your father gets home from work, he'll take you to the pool. Come on."

~8~

"I love this book."

"I love this book."

"I love this book." Brick chanted under his breath as he clutched his book.

"I hate my life."

"I hate my life."

"I ha—"Axl chanted, his eyes trailing to Laynee as she looked through a row of books.

"You got 5 feet, mister. Use all of it." Frankie pointed out and Axl shot back like a rocket.

Delaeney's green eyes flickered to where Frankie seemed to be arguing with the attendant. She finally had the book she need and now all she had to do is check it out without anyone asking questions. She _knew_ that Axl was watching. She also _knew_ that if he hadn't been punished, he would be standing right next to her and there would be no way for her to get this book. Taking her time, she waited for Axl to turn to make a snide remark and quickly shoved the book up her jacket front. She'd have to be careful; she couldn't let anyone see.

Laynee watched Frankie lead Brick and Sue out the door muttering something to Brick along the lines of 'More TV is good for you'. Laynee also noticed that Axl was hanging back and waiting for her.

"I'll be right there." She reassured him and he narrowed his eyes.

"Hurry up."

Once making sure that he could no longer see her, she ducked into the front of the line and check-out her book before shoving it up into her jacket again. She turned and ran straight out the door with one hand on her stomach holding the book in place. She finally caught Frankie's car from the corner of her eye and go in.

"Where'd you go, doll." Frankie asked they drove away.

"Oh, you know, just looking around."

~8~

At the pool, Delaeney sat in a plastic chair with a teal cover-up wrapped around her body. Seeing that no one else was getting in, she headed over to the concession stand to get a drink. As she walked back, two shirtless- and very good looking- boys interrupted her.

Over at the chairs, Mike tried to get his other kids into the pool.

"Axl, you getting in?"

"Pool's queer."

"Mm. Brick, how about you? You getting in?"

"Swimming's not fun without a book."

"Then what the hell am I doing here? Come on, Brick," Mike tried to bribe Brick, "Look at those boys. They're having fun."

Mike was referring to two boys who were trying to drown each other.

Mike craned his neck looking for Delaeney, noticing that she was missing, and wondered if he'd already lost her. When he looked at the concession stand he noticed her having a lovely conversation with the two boys that stood in front of her. He nudged Axl.

"Hey, do you know those boys Laynee's talking to?"

Axl followed his dad's gaze and his eyes hardened as he caught the two boys.

"They're douchebags." Axl responded, straightening up a bit.

Mike gave an 'oh' and nodded.

"Alrighty then. DELAENEY COME ON. YOU'RE TAKING FOREVER." Mike called through cupped hands.

Axl and Mike watched as Laynee's face went bright red before excusing herself from the boys. They also watched the two boys hand her two pieces of paper and made the 'call me' motion.

Laynee almost skipped her way back to the chairs but forced herself to walk and 'be cool'. When she around a few inches away from her chair, Axl stuck his foot out causing Laynee to trick and fall into the pool.

"You JERK! Why'd you do that?" Laynee fumed, pulling herself out of the pool.

Axl gave her a shrug and went back to moping. Laynee opened her hand and her face fell once she saw the soggy wet pieces of paper. There was no way she could read these now. Sighing, she go up and sat in her chair ignoring the towel that was tossed in her direction. Glancing over at Axl's calm face, she attacked him in a side hug causing him to squirm.

"Mom says I'm supposed to interact." Brick said.

Delaeney groaned and threw the towel over her head hoping that it would block out some of Brick's talking.

~8~

Laynee walked downstairs in her PJ's after taking a shower to get all the chlorine off. She noticed that Frankie had returned and then realized that she left her shoes outside.

"I'll be right back." She called as she slipped outside to grab them.

As she turned back to open the door, she found it locked. Mumbling curse words under her breath she headed to the back door only to find Axl pressing his face against the door.

"What… are you doing?"

"It's fun."

~8~

Laynee watched Sue try on multiple pairs of glasses.

"Dork."

"Dork."

"I would never stop punching you." Were Axl's words of encouragement?

Delaeney sighed and approached Sue.

"Let me help you."

"Nah, it's okay. I wanna do this by myself."

Delaeney nodded and headed back to Axl and Mike.

"Anyway, it's our job is to cheer her on." Mike finished as he watched Sue pick up a pair of weird glasses.

Sue turned to face them with a really bad pair of glasses on. They kinda reminded Laynee of her dead Grandma's glasses.

"Oh, my God. Those look so great. Seriously," Axl exaggerated, "I think you should really, really buy them."

"Okay. Guess these are the ones. There's no stopping me on the swim team now." Sue replied.

~8~

Once again Laynee sat at the poolside. This time Sue was really trying out and it turns out that she is pretty bad a swimming and it's not because of her eyesight. She's just bad. She had swam out of the swimmers lane and into the children one then she crashed into Brick which was rewarded by Brick dropping the library book into the pool. To make things even better, the tornado alarm sounded.

Turning to her side, Delaeney came face to face with Axl making out with a girl.

"Get a room please," Delaeney begged as she threw up a bit in her mouth and her stomach churned.

"Isn't he supposed to be punished?" Frankie screeched as she saw Axl making out with the girl.

"And in front of Laynee! How is this gonna effect our future plan?" Frankie whispered the last part to Mike.

"He lured her into the perimeter and I don't know, I was focused on Sue."

~8~

The family huddled inside the storm shelter as the tornado raged on. Laynee sat as far away as she could from Axl. She was displeased with Axl's early actions. He knew that it makes her uncomfortable when people make out in front of her. Axl glanced over at Delaeney who was refusing to meet his eye and glared at the ground.

"Mom, are we gonna be okay?" Sue asked looking at her mom with fearful eyes.

"I don't know. I don't know if we are gonna be okay, Sue. I really don't. Frankly, I have no evidence that we will be." Frankie stated.

"That's not what you're supposed to say." Delaeney piped in.

"Oh, I know. I know. I'm supposed to pick you all up and tell you everything's gonna be fine. But you know what? I don't know anymore! You want to know the truth? Your dad's big on truth," Frankie started, "Basically, our lives suck right now. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. We can't afford a new dryer. We can't afford unexpired food. I can't even afford the LCD light-up angel I ordered on the TV to surprise you all at Christmas."

Everyone was giving Frankie concerned looks.

"Surprise. If I don't sell a car…" Delaeney sort of tuned Frankie out. She wasn't trying to be rude. It's just that… she was tired and she knew that things would always work themselves out.

"Mom," Laynee cut her off, "Everything will be fine."

"Yeah, Frankie. We'll get through."

 _Who knew I was living with my own personal cheerleader? Mike and Laynee were right. We would get through, same as always._

~8~

They all walked onto the front lawn as Frankie talked about how 'if they all had each other than everything would be fine'.

"Cause there's nothing more important than—Holy crap! Is that a dryer? You see it too, right Mike? The tornado gave us a dryer," Frankie praised as they spotted a brand new dryer on their lawn, looking unharmed.

"Quick. Get it inside before anybody sees. Oh, my!"

 _Our luck started to turn around after that. Some stupid bank actually approved us for a brand-new Credit Cars, so we paid off Brick's library fines. We were actually able to afford contacts for Sue, and she actually made the swim team—well, 34th_ _alternate. Also, Laynee's parent's finally sent the check and I nearly had a heart attack when I saw it—$900,000!_

 _And the best part of the new Credit Card? No payments till 2012. And I'm sure by 2012, everything's gonna be great! Okay. See, this is why you never give up hope—because anything is possible. I mean, you never know what's gonna happen. You just gotta hang in there and believe and—_

"Hot damn! There's even clothes in there!"


	3. The Floating Anniversary

_This was supposed to be my anniversary. That's me in the car._

"Don't wait up, cause I don't know when I'll be home!" Frankie yelled as Mike walked down the street dragging a wagon with a dog in it.

 _As much fun as this looks, a couple of days ago we had a different plan in mind._

Frankie stood in the kitchen fixing the kids lunches. Mike walked downstairs and went behind her, holding a white card with a yellow bow on it.

"Happy anniversary."

"Oh, honey!" Frankie exclaimed taking the card, "I don't have anything for you."

 _I had long ago learned not to get Mike presents. This was actually our 17_ _th_ _. We kept postponing the 16_ _th_ _until it floated right into number 17._

"I know how busy you've been, and you saying how badly you want to get away, so I got us a trip to the carpet remnants store." Mike remarked as Frankie read the card.  
"I love it!"

"Oh! I know."

 _It's a little pathetic to get so excited about a carpet remnant, but the rug in our bedroom had so serious mileage. I told you. I wasn't kidding._

"On Friday, I'm taking you to French Lick. We'll stay overnight at the Route 33 motor lodge, then we'll pick out our remnant on Saturday and head back home." Mike explained.

"Oh! I love it." Frankie exclaimed as she kissed Mike, "Except for the heading home part."

Delaeney, Axl, and Sue walked downstairs to see Mike and Frankie kissing.

"Nobody wants to see that," Axl stated as they made their way over to the counter to get their lunches.

"I think old people kissing is sweet." Sue commented as Axl placed his hand over Laynee's eyes, blocking her view.

"All right, I think we're done here." Frankie said pulling away and walking towards the kids.

"Brick," Frankie called, "Packed your lunch! Let's go!"

"Hey, could I drive to school today?" Axl questioned as he stood by the front door.

"No, not today. Your mom and I have a lot to do, plus we don't want to die." Mike said and Delaeney giggled.

"If I don't get to practice driving, I'm never gonna get my license." Axl complained.

"Yeah," Delaeney added, "My friend's mom is letting me practice with her daughter."

"That's why we taught you to walk," Mike stated.

"Tell you what," Frankie interrupted, "if you stop by the lot after school, I'll try and sneak you in for a test drive, okay."

"Okay," Axl sighed.

"And Laynee, you should stop by too. I don't trust that other parent to teach you to drive."

Delaeney froze in her stop and turned to look at Frankie.

"I can't… I, uh, have something after school."

"Okay. What is that something?"

"Just… stuff."

"I want an answer when you get home. Come on, guys. Get going. You don't want to miss the bus." Frankie called and Axl, Sue, and Delaeney rushed out the door.

"Goodbye, Mom."

"Have a good day."

"See you guys."

Laynee ran through the halls as the last bell rang. She dodged other students and prayed that she wouldn't run into Axl. She had to get to the gym as soon as possible. Her coach was already mad that she had missed practice yesterday and she was almost always late.

She looked down at her phone and collided with full force into another body.

"Watch it br-, Laynee?"

She swore under her breath and dashed off again leaving Axl dazed and confused.

Once she entered the gym, she raced into the locker room and changed into her leotard. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and calmly walked into the mat- covered floor.

"Gale!" a female voiced shouted.

Delaeney cringed and turned to face the woman.

Coach Shelia had short brown hair and menacing blue eyes. She was also extremely tall; she had to be at least 5'8 while Laynee was 5'3. Delaeney turned and faced her coach with the most serious face she could muster.

"Yes, coach."

"You are 5.3 seconds late. We do not tolerate this lateness,"

Delaeney opened her mouth to defend herself but was quickly cut off.

"No excuses. I don't want to hear about it. Drop and give me twenty."

Groaning, Delaeney dropped and started her pushups. Even though she was upset, Delaeney knew that if she wanted to go far she would have to work hard for it.

Laynee raced to her house before knocking on the door and as she waited she smoothed down her hair and fixed her clothes. She hoped her nose wasn't bleeding. A new girl was trying to do an Ariel and ended up kicking Laynee in the face.

"Oh, hey Laynee," Axl let her in the house.

"Woah, why is your nose bleeding." He asked as he poked her nose.

Laynee squealed in pain and swatted his hand away; she covered her nose and raced upstairs before anyone else could question what had happened. Delaeney braided her hair and changed into her PJ's before coming downstairs. She had taken a shower at the gym and she finally felt nice and fresh again.

As she made her way downstairs, she ran her hand underneath her nose to make sure it had definitely stopped bleeding. Walking into the kitchen, she turned to see Axl standing in front of the fridge.

"Wha appened oo or nose" Axl spoke through a mouthful of food.

Delaeney groaned and rolled her eyes before answering Axl with a pathetic excuse; which, he did buy.

~8~

Laynee sat on the hood of the car as the officer talked to Frankie. She had been attempting an ariel and had failed. She had failed horribly. She had failed so bad that she had fractured her wrist.

"Laynee, what happened!" Frankie gasped as she saw the state of Laynee's right arm.

Laynee gulped,

"I was trying to do this trick my friend, Ashley, showed me. It… it didn't really work."

She wasn't lying; that did happen. Axl wrapped his arm around Laynee's shoulder and pulled her closer.

Frankie groaned and shook her head.

~8~

Sue, Laynee, Brick, and their aunts sat around the coffee table as Bob talked about his day and served them dinner.

 _You've got young people and old people pulling at you from both directions. But it's not so bad as long as you've got somebody in there with you. And that's something you gotta remember to celebrate._

~8~

"Axl,"

"Yeah."

"Why is your name littering my cast?"


	4. The Trip

The Trip

 _Here in the middle, we have a long tradition of kids raising money for their school by hitting up their neighbors, to buy crap they don't want to buy or need. Following in that great tradition, Sue is selling cheese and sausage meat for the Orson Junior High. I think what makes Sue such a great seller is that she can take rejection. Probably because she's had so much practice. Let me tell you: When it came to selling cheese and sausage, Sue was driven. She was driven by Mike all over Indiana._

 _Mike took her to Terre Haute. They went to Gary._

 _She almost hit every county in the state._

 _~8~_

 _Sue was really kicking butt._

 _She was a shining beacon of motivation._

 _Axl and Laynee? Not so much._

 _"_ Axl, how many times do I have to say it? Turn off that TV and get dressed for school!" Laynee heard Frankie yell as she bounded down the stairs.

Turning to her left, she saw that Axl was still in his underwear on the couch with pants pooling at his feet and a shirt across his lap.

"It'll take me, like, two seconds. Chill."

Laynee placed her bag down and sat next to Axl, grabbing some of the cereal that rested in between them.

"Ma, we're out of cereal," Axl shouted as he yanked the cereal out of Laynee's hand and shook it upside down.

"Axl, don't be so rude." Laynee commanded as she shoved the remaining cereal into her mouth.

Axl scowled and slumped farther back into the couch.

"Damn it, Axl! I told you to turn off the TV and get ready for school! Now the bus is here and you're not ready." Frankie complained.

Axl groaned and pulled his shirt over his head. Jumping, he yanked up his pants. Buttoning them up, he walked out of the room.

"Told you, two seconds."

Laynee hopped up and followed Axl out of the room and the two walked down to the bus.

~8~

Laynee walked down the street. Now that her cast was off she could finally go back to the gym and start to work again. Turns out that she didn't miss much in those weeks that she was gone.

Her cast was literally one word though.

Axl.

Axl.

AXL!

That was what was all over her cast. Her friends didn't have any place to sign it because Axl's name was covering up the whole thing.

Laynee approached the gym and looked around the room.

She was an hour early.

It was time to get back to business and get to the goal that she had placed in her head since she was eight.

It was finally time to begin again…

~8~

Laynee sat on the couch with Axl as they watched one of their favorite TV shows, South Park.

"Sue!" Laynee heard Frankie call from the other room and then the thudding of feet rushing down the stairs.

"What's it like not having your cast anymore?" Axl asked as he grabbed a handful of chips.

"It's just the same as when I didn't have the cast." Laynee responded.

"Does your hand still feel the same?" Axl wondered.

"It should."

"Let me see," Was Axl's response as he grabbed her hand and looped his fingers through hers.

Layne felt herself blushed slightly and when she tried to pull her hand away, Axl tightened his grip.

A comfortable silence passed only to be interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell. Wordlessly, Axl got up and walked to the door without letting go of Laynee's hand.

"Axl, let go." Laynee said as he partially dragged and she partially followed him to the door.

Axl grunted and opened the door a smidge.

"Hey, Brick's girlfriend's here."

"Ohh!" Frankie exclaimed as she rushed to the door.

Laynee tripped over her feet as Frankie pulled Axl out of the way causing Axl to pull Laynee back with him. Laynee stumbled into Axl as Axl stumbled into Mike. Mike steadied Axl and Axl grasped Laynee's arm, stopping her from falling over. Once they were stable, Axl laced his fingers through Laynee's once again and lead her back to the couch.

~8~

Laynee was sitting in her room reading a book when she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in," She called.

"Laynee." She heard a voice say and she looked up.

"Oh. Hey Brick. What can I do for you?" Laynee asked as she put down her book.

"How do you break up with someone?"

"Um…" Laynee mused, "Well, is this a gentle break up or a rough break up?"

"I don't know."

"Okay. Well, for a gentle break up you gotta be all like 'Listen, you're a really nice person and I love what we have done with each other. I will never forget the memories we made but I think it's time for us to separate." Laynee paused, "But for a rough break up you gotta be all like 'I am done! You are driving me crazy! I don't know why I went out with you in the first place!"

Brick nodded.

"Great! Glad I could help."

Brick headed for the door and before he left he turned and looked at Laynee,

"Have you ever broken up with someone?"

"Yeah. There was Brad and the James."

"I'm guessing that Brad got the gentler break up and James got the rougher one."

"I knew you were a smart kid, Brick."

~8~

Pulling the shower curtain open, Brick looked up at Axl.

"How do you break up with a girl?"

"You wanna break up with that chick?" Axl asked as he grabbed the body wash, "You're weird, dude. You got a hottie that likes you."

"I'm sure."

"All right," Axl grabbed the shampoo, "Girl's like it when you talk to them, so try blowing her off or something."

"What about rough and gentle break ups?"

Axl gave him a confused look,

"What?"

"Laynee said something about rough and gentle break ups," Brick explained and Axl narrowed his eyes.

"And who were these guys?"

"Brad and James. How do you blow off a girl?"

"Like this," Axl said and he grabbed the shower curtain, closing it.

~8~

Axl stood in the living room in a towel holding the remote and flipping through the channels.

"Great advice, Axl!" Brick exclaimed as he stormed into the house, holding a baby doll.

"Now we're married and we have a baby! I should've listened to Laynee."

~8~

Brick, Laynee, Axl, and Mike sat at the kitchen table with their drinks. Laynee had her head resting on Axl's shoulder and Axl was staring blankly at the table.

"I can't do it anymore," Brick said as he placed his orange juice down.

"So you're stuck with her. It's not all bad. Olivia's got her strong points. She's strong." Mike consoled.

"I know. She threw a pumpkin at the car." Brick said.

Laynee watched as all the Heck boys picked up their drinks and drank at the same time.

"Hey, if you and this chick got pretend married, why don't you get pretend divorced?" Axl asked and Laynee nodded in agreement.

"She said that if we ever broke up, she'd take half my books and we'd split the babies." Brick explained.

"Oh," Lanyee winced, "I'm guessing she'd get Strawberry Shortcake and you'd get Rainbow Brite."

Mike and Axl turned and looked at her.

"How do you know this?" Axl asked, confused.

Laynee shrugged,

"You'd think I'd miss the birth of my nieces?" She took a sip of her drink, "No way."

"Yeah," Brick agreed, "I'm not even sure if Rainbow Brite is mine."

"I don't know what to tell you, Brick." Mike sighed, "Women are complicated. They're not simple and straightforward like us guys."

"Yeah," Axl agreed, "I only got two thoughts in my head. Driving and sex."

"Oh my Gosh, Axl." Laynee said, horrified.

"Oh, grades." Axl quickly changed, "Driving and grades."

Laynee stared at Axl with wide eyes as Mike carried on.

"Really, Axl." She muttered to herself as she watched Axl's tense form relax once he knew he was off the hook.

Grabbing her drink from the table, Laynee walked off.

"I'm gonna give you guys some man time."

~8~

 _There it was, Sue found her voice. And boy, was it loud._

 _Yeah. My girl was a fighter. She was gonna be fine. And all the cheese and sausage in the world doesn't make you feel prouder than that._

 _Oh, and Brick? Turns out that he could take care of himself too._

 _Damn, I'm good._


	5. The Block Party

The Block Party

 _Here in the Midwest, fall is the best time of the year. Corn mazes, football booster club, and in our neighborhood, the Birchwood Avenue Block Party. If you live between 351 and 421 Birchwood Avenue, then you're more than welcome._

 _But if you don't, well, you're out of luck. But the most exciting thing about the block party is the Birchwood 500. Three nail-biting laps around the block on your riding mover. The neighborhood looks forward to it._

 _Especially the kids._

~8~

Laynee, Axl, Frankie, and Mike stood in the garage staring at the red lawnmower that rested there.

"Lawnmower races are lame."

 _Well, most of them anyway. Axl's in that phase now where everyone and everything is lame._

 _Unless you're Laynee._

"Hey, last year when Jack Meenahan won you said, "Don't worry, Dad, we'll get him next year." Mike said. "We. And for that reason alone I bet him the loser this year has to mow the other guy's lawn for a year."

"Yeah," Axl snorted, "That was lame."

Laynee watched as Axl turned and left the garage.

"You know what's lame?" Mike yelled after him, "Thinking everything's lame is lame. That's what's lame."

"Whatever."

Laynee tilted her head to the side before looking up at Mike and Frankie,

"You know," She pondered, "This is Axl we're talking about."

Mike and Frankie watched as Laynee gave them a small nod before walking out of the garage.

~8~

Laynee sat at the kitchen table reading a book while Axl sat across from her eating the potato salad that was made for the block party. Hearing the door unlock, Laynee looked up to see Mike and Frankie walk in.

"What is wrong with you?" Frankie exclaimed. "That is for the block party."

"I can read. I'm not stupid."

"We'll be the judge of whether you're stupid or not." Frankie said before turning to Laynee.

"Why didn't you stop him! He would've listened to you!"

"I could've," Laynee said as she turned the page in her book, "But I didn't."

"Oh, look who's being little Miss. Sassy." Frankie exclaimed.

Laynee shrugged and continued to read.

"I know you own pants." Mike concluded, "I've seen them draped over the TV."

Axl huffed and got up, grabbing Laynee's hand as he did so, dragging her with him.

"Oh, Mom, are you going to the Booster Club thing at school on Friday?" Axl asked, turning to face his parents.

"Well, I will if you want me to." Frankie gave a gentle smile, "You sound like you do. You know, that means so much to me. Oh, I miss you."

Laynee and Axl shared a weird look as Frankie walked to give Axl a hug.

"Woah, chill, gross." Axl said, putting his hand out to stop her, "I thought we talked about this."

Frankie watched as Axl and Laynee walked off hand in hand. She could see those two together in the future. She just needed to play her cards right.

~8~

Delaeney sat next to Frankie at the Booster Club meeting. She didn't really want to be there and didn't know why she was because it was only for the football team, the moms, and the cheerleaders.

"The guys just wanted to do something nice for you, moms." The football captain, Michael, said.

"Especially since you raised the money to get us these killer new jerseys."

Delaeney rolled her eyes and pulled out the book she was currently reading, Finding Salvation at Dairy Queen. It was recommended to Delaeney by her English Teacher, Mr. Robb. At first, she thought she was going to hate the book but now, she couldn't put it down.

 _So you might be wondering why I brought Delaeney with me._

 _It's a very simple tactic._

 _I thought that this would help me get some affection from Axl._

 _You know, bringing his best friend to a very important meeting. And not only was Laynee his best friend, she was also a very attractive girl._

 _So I hoping that this would help._

Hearing Axl's voice, Delaeney looked up to see Axl fidgeting with his jersey. Now this caught her attention. All week he had been talking about who he was going to give his jersey to. He was talking about giving it to a girl named Sophie because she was hot and when Delaenye mentioned that he should maybe give it to Frankie he had given her a blank look.

"I'd like to give my jersey to a special lady who might not know how special she is," Axl began before throwing his shirt.

"Sophie, I think you're hot."

Delaeney turned to look at the blonde cheerleader, Sophie, and then turned to look back at Axl. He was high-fiving his friends and when Delaeney looked at Frankie, she looked crushed. Delaeney shook her head.

 _Keep smiling._

 _You can cry in the car._

~8~

Delaeney sat curled up at Axl's side with Sue on the other side of the couch as they watched TV. Sue had gotten hit in the head with a tennis racket and there was now a welt on her forehead.

"Sue, what happened to your face?" Frankie asked as she walked through the door.

"She was born that way." Axl yawned.

"Axl," Frankie chided.

"I didn't make ball girl." Sue explained, "I got hit in the face with a racket."

"Stupid." Axl muttered.

"Axl." Frankie snapped.

"No, not her, me. Stupid for giving my jersey to Sophie."

"Oh, really? What do you mean?" Frankie slily asked,

"She doesn't like him." Delaeney explained.

Delaeney watched Frankie climb over Sue to sit in between her and Axl. This caused Axl to shift even closer to the side of the couch, crushing Laynee.

"Axl," Laynee gasped, "Move."

AXl gave the slightest shift but it was enough for Laynee's small form to once again breathe the air around her.

Delaeney partially listened to the two Heck kids explain what had happened to them. She had already heard the stories from both kids and didn't want to listen to them again.

"I think you might wanna get it back," Frankie pushed, "It's your jersey and it's very valuable. There could be someone out there who wants it very badly."

"Wait," Axl paused and looked at Delaeney. "Do you want it Laynee?"

Delaeney shook her head and continued to watch the TV and Frankie internally groaned.

"You think I could sell it?"

"I'm out."

~8~

 _The block party was finally here and my worries had melted away. I don't know if it was because Mike and Brick fixed the lawnmower together or because Mike and Brick fixed the margarita maker._

 _Who am I kidding? I knew._

Axl and Laynee stood on the other side of the road watching Frankie talk to Sophie.

"Bet you she's harassing her to give her the jersey." Delaeney said as she took a sip of her lemonade.

"Yeah."

"It was really nice of you, you know." Laynee said.

"What?"

"Giving your Jersey to Sue."

Axl watched as Laynee walked off to the food stand to get more lemonade and smiled.

~8~

 _Oh, thank God._

 _He was the same sweet kid who had given me the clay giraffe. He was just currently hiding in the shell of a hideous teenager but there a glimmer he'd be back._

 _This block party was shaping out to be the best one ever. Better than when the kids were out of town._

 _That's the thing about Brick._

 _He's always gonna go down his own path._

 _Instead of fighting it, Mike decided to meet Brick on his terms and just veered right off the path there with him._

 _I guess that counselor wasn't so wrong after all._

 _When it comes to your kids all you can really do is be concerned, but not overly concerned._

 _h_


	6. The Front Door

The Front Door

Delaeney laid curled up next to Axl as they slept comfortably in his bed. Delaeney was very happy at the current moment. She was warm and Axl's bed felt way more comfortable than hers.

"AXL!" She heard Frankie scream and she snuggled in closer to Axl.

"DELAENEY! Get out of bed now!"

Frankie slammed the bedroom door open and marched over to the bed that the two teens were sleeping on.

"NOW! I said now!" Frankie exclaimed as she lifted Axl's mattress and flung them off the bed.

Axl and Laynee groaned from the floor where they laid. Axl was sprawled out on his back while Laynee rested on her stomach.

 _Okay, I know this doesn't look good, but in fairness to me, this wasn't how the morning started._

 _6:55 AM:_

" _Axl, Laynee," Frankie cooed as she opened the door a crack, "Time to get up."_

 _Laynee and Axl groaned before rolling onto their sides._

 _7:10 AM:_

" _Come on, sleepyheads." Frankie opened the blinds, "Rise and shine."_

 _Laynee buried her face into Axl's pillow._

 _7:25 AM:_

" _Axl, Delaeney, the bus comes in 15 minutes. Let's go." Frankie commanded and teens continued to ignore her._

 _7:40 AM:_

 _Frankie walked into Axl's room with a spray bottle and started to spray Delaeney and Axl._

 _Delaeney squealed and curled into a little ball, trying to block the water while Axl just groaned._

 _Now:_

 _You get the picture._

"God," Axl groaned, "Overreact much?"

"You missed the bus," Frankie complained, "and now I have to drive you to school. Get dressed."

Frankie walked out of the room and Axl let out a hiss as he rolled to his side and Laynee slowly got up.

Seeing that Frankie was about to yell at Axl again, Delaeney booked it out of his room and into hers and Sue's.

~8~

Delaynee stood next to Sue holding her school picture. Like Sue, she hadn't bothered to open the package in fear that the picture was going to be horrible.

"Mom," Sue began as the approached Frankie.

"School pictures came today."

 _School pictures._

 _Now, Sue has may wonderful qualities but we've never seen any of them show up on film and Delaeney's were sometimes okay. Delaeney was just really bad at fake smiling and her pictures often looked like she was in immense pain._

"We haven't looked yet," Delaeney said and Frankie nodded.

"Okay, let's do this together."

Frankie took Delaeney's picture first and she slowly opened it.

"Oh," Frankie said, shocked, "It looks fine."

 _Thank God. One less thing to worry about._

Delaeney gave Frankie a bright smile before taking her picture back and running to put it in her room.

~8~

"Laynee," Mike said from her bedroom doorway and she looked up from her computer.

"Yeah."

"Can you come take your cups and put them in the dishwasher?" Mike asked, nicely.

"Why?" Laynee groaned.

"Just do it."

Laynee gave a dramatic sigh and watched as Mike walked to wherever Axl was before turning and heading down the stairs. As she rinsed out her cup, she heard Axl walked into the kitchen with Mike following him.

"On the subject," Mike said and Delaeney turned to face them, "your Mom and I are sick of your attitude. From now on, when she asks you to do something, you do it."

Delaeney gave Mike a weird as Axl, too, turned to face them.

"Also, you're gonna start earning your keep here." Mike turned to Delaeney, "This goes for you too, missy."

Delaeney gapped at him before crossing her arms and furrowing her brows.

"Your mom has a whole list of things she wants you two to do." Mike continued

"Go, Frankie."

Axl and Laynee gave Frankie a bemused look as she jumped with a start,

"Oh, um, yes. There's a lot for you to do. Just give me a second."

Laynee glared at Axl and he glared back at her.

"This is all your fault." She said.

"My fault. How is this my fault?" Axl exclaimed.

"If you had just put your dish in the sink before we left then we would've been fine."

"At least I don't leave cups everywhere."

"You leave plates!"

"Whatever she come up with," Mike interrupted, "do it with a smile."

"Rake the leaves," Frankie suddenly said. "Fold the laundry. Uh, clean the light fixtures. Ooh, they're coming now."

Axl and Laynee both gaped at her, their argument now forgotten.

"You can't do this!" Axl exclaimed as her grabbed Laynee's hand and pulled her out of the kitchen with him.

"You heard your Mother." Mike called as he followed them.

"God, this is so unfair." Laynee whined.

Laynee opened the front door and walked out and Axl followed her, slamming the door shut.

Laynee froze when she heard the door slam shut.

"Uh… Axl."

"What."

"The hinge is broken on the door."

Axl and Laynee turned to the door as they heard it creak and watched with wide eyes as it fell over.

Axl cautiously stepped back into the view of Mike and Frankie.

"And you two are gonna fix that too." Mike stated.

"What," Laynee said as she appeared next to Axl, "No way. No. It was already broken."

"Mom had been telling you to fix that hinge for, like, a month. Right, mom?" Axl agreed.

"Uh," Frankie's eyes flickered between Axl, Laynee, and Mike, "I support your father."

Laynee's mouth dropped.

"Classic," Axl said as he grabbed Laynee's hand and dragged her off with him.

"And this door stays right where it is until you march your butt right back in and fix it." Laynee heard Mike call and they both groaned, irritated.

~8~

Laynee and Axl stalked through the front door as Mike headed towards them.

"Axl, Laynee."

"Dad." They both replied with a straight face.

 _Truth be told, I was getting a little worried. When it comes to being stubborn, Axl, Laynee and Mike had a history._

 _A nine-year-old Delaeney sat at the kitchen table pushing her Brussel sprouts around with her fork._

" _Delaeney," Mike began, "You're not leaving this table until you finish your Brussel sprouts."_

 _Laynee placed her fork down and folded her hands together, staring Mike in the eye._

" _Fine. I'll wait."_

 _A twelve-year-old Delaeney sat on the couch with her arms crossed._

" _Delaeney," Mike said, "You need to do your homework."_

 _Delaeney stared Mike down._

" _Fine. I'll wait."_

 _Yep, till now, Mike would always win, but now he's got Axl and Laynee together against him._

"Fine. I can wait." Mike said.

"That's great," Delaeney said with a sarcastic smile.

"We've got nothing but time." Axl finished.

~8~

 _The standoff was looking like a long one, but I had bigger things to worry about._

 _Over the next few days, I tried ever sales trick in the book._

 _I tried being one of the guys._

 _I tried being one of the girls._

 _While Mike tried every trick in his book._

Mike walked in the house to Axl and Laynee watching TV,

"No door," Mike turned the TV off, "no TV."

"No door, no phone."

"No door, no food."

 _Things took a sharp turn one day, though._

Mike walked in the house to see Delaeney and Axl sitting on the couch staring at the blank TV. Delaeney was curled up into Axl's side and Axl had his arm loosely around her waist.

"No door," Mike paused, "no Delaeney."

Axl and Laynee froze and looked up at him in horror.

"Wha…" Delaeney didn't get to finish her sentence for Mike had already grabbed her arm.

"No," Axl denied as he tightened his grip on her.

"No door, no Delaeney." Mike stated again as he finally got Delaeney out of Axl's grasp.

"Mom," Delaeney called, "make him stop."

"God," Axl whined, "This is so unfair."

Frankie stood in the kitchen wondering what she should do.

"No," Mike said, "Delaeney, go to your room."

Delaeney's eyes widened and she slowly trudged to her room.

Mike turned around to see Axl looking at him with wide eyes that were filled with hurt.

"No door, no Delaeney." Mike reprimanded and Axl flopped back onto the couch, motionlessly.

~8~

Delaeney walked down the stairs as she heard the front door close. From her spot, she saw Mike walk towards Axl, who had entered through the back door.

"Well, well, well," Mike said as he stalked towards Axl, "You put the door back on. Good boy."

"No, I didn't," Axl said with a shrug.

Mike turned his attention to Laynee,

"Did you do it?"

"No," Delaeney shook her head.

"I did it." Frankie said as she held the drill.

"You did it? You put the door back, partner?" Mike asked, shocked, "That's it. It's coming off."

Laynee watched as Mike went to the door and Frankie run in front of him.

"Don't. You. Dare." She said, holding the drill like a gun.

Every time Mike went for the door, Frankie would turn the drill on, efficiently stopping him.

Laynee watched Axl laugh.

"Hey," Frankie said as she pointed the drill towards Axl, "I think now would be a good time to go do your homework."

Frankie watched as Axl hesitantly walked towards the kitchen before sighing.

"Go ahead, Laynee. You can join him."

Laynee raced down the last few steps and ran straight to Axl, who looked relieved.

Frankie mentally awed as Laynee pulled him into a hug and Axl hugged back just as tight. Sure it was a short hug, but she had a feeling that those two would be sleeping in Axl's room for the next few weeks. Axl grabbed Laynee's hand tightly and she followed him into the kitchen so they could do their homework.

~8~

"This is totally unfair," Axl yelled from where he stood outside in the mascot uniform.

Delaeney was currently cleaning the toilets of Frankie's work place and Frankie sighed happily.

 _Yep, everything was as it should be._

 _I had the commission, a door, and they even gave me my own desk._

 _I was Frankie Heck, sales mom._

 _Look out, world._


	7. The Scratch

**Just a quick little Author's Note: I just wanted to let you know that The Middle will usually be updated on Friday's and Saturday's. Sometimes during the week, if I have time, I may update this story but I do have two other stories to update besides this one. **

**Thank you so much for sticking with this story when I had disappeared and I promise that that won't happen again.**

The Scratch

 _From the outside, you can see that we're just your average family._

 _Sure we're a little disorganized._

"Trash day!" Frankie yelled as she ran down the hallway, banging the doors, "Bring out your trash!"

Delaeney groaned and rolled over in her bed. She didn't want to get up. Her arms were painfully sore from all the bar practice they had last night.

 _Okay, okay. I know it probably looks insane to be so nuts about trash day but, see, due to cutbacks trash pickup only happens once every two weeks._

 _If you miss it, you're screwed._

Delaeney stood next to Sue and held open the trash bag while Sue the trash into it.

"We're never going to make it." Sue pointed out.

"Hurry up, Sue." Delaeney said as she shook the trash bag.

"I don't understand why nobody obeys the chore chart!" Frankie exclaimed as she held up her trash bag. "Axl was to take out the garbage, Sue was to clean up, and Laynee was to fold the laundry."

Frankie sighed,

"Why do I bother making a chore chart if nobody pays any attention to it?"

"There's nothing on it." Axl exclaimed as he looked at the empty chart.

"Yeah, because I haven't bought the dry-erase markers, but it's all up here and you're supposed to remember what I told you." Frankie said as she picked up trash from underneath the coffee table.

Frankie tossed an empty takeout cup at Sue and Delaeney watched in awe as Sue caught it in her trash bag.

"Nice, Sue." Delaeney applauded and Sue smiled.

"Thanks."

Delaeney went into the kitchen to grab the trash bag that was _in_ the trash can, knowing that they'd forget it if she didn't grab it now.

"We can do this. We can do this." She heard Frankie chant from the living room, "Hurry up."

Delaeney rushed out the door with the rest of the family in her baggy t-shirt and pajama pants, holding the trash bag.

"We did it! We made th-" Frankie was cut off by the honking of the garbage truck as it passed them.

Delaeney blinked blankly before dropping the trash bag she held.

~8~

Delaeney sat in between Axl and Sue as Sue fought Axl for the snacks.

"Hey," Delaeney said, agitated, "can you stop or can we at least switch spots."

 _You know those times you wished someone would take your kids away? Well, the reality isn't really as great as the fantasy._

Frankie turned around to face Axl, Sue, and Delaeney. Delaeney was sitting at the far end of the couch, away from the fighting that was occurring between Axl and Sue.

"So the social worker's coming tomorrow afternoon for the home visit." Frankie announced with crossed arms.

"If I tell the social worker that you hit me too does that mean I can trade up to a better foster family?" Axl asked with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Maybe," Delaeney said with a shrug, "but they'd most likely take me and give me back to my parents or something like that."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Sue cried, "They're gonna split us up! They're gonna take us away!"  
"Relax," Mike said as he entered the room, "Nobody's taking anybody anywhere. This is a formalitu so they can sign their paperwork. We're gonna answer their questions Brick's gonna tell what happened and they're gonna see what a normal family we are."

Delaeney gave a nod as she snatched a pretzel from Axl.

~8~

 _So, the day of the social-worker visit arrived and we all pulled together to make a good impression._

Delaeney walked next to Axl as he wore dress pants, a checkered shirt, and a fake headband that made it seem like a knife was going through his head. Delaeney was wearing a pink floral dress with a grey cardigan.

"How do I look?" Axl asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"Take that off." Frankie demanded, furious. "Damn it, Axl, take it off."

"Don't hit me." Axl joked.

"Not funny, Axl." Frankie fumed, "Not funny."

Axl scoffed and went to put the headband away while Delaeney walked into the living room hoping to get some peace before the social security worker came.

~8~

The woman who was interviewing them seemed like a nice woman. She had long red hair and wore a white shirt with a blue cardigan over it and a grey skirt. She also had a warm, loving smile on her face. Delaeney narrowed her eyes slightly, or course they had a warm caring smile; they were trying to make the child feel like they were in a safer environment. Which, she had to admit, was pretty smart.

"It's very nice to meet you."

"It's very nice to meet you too." Frankie responded

The social security worker, Carol, looked at the family before her. The oldest son had his arm around the young girl, who the family was currently guardians of. Next to them was the little boy and a teenage girl with a hat on her head. Frankie noticed Carol looking at Sue and her hat and quickly said,

"Her head gets cold."

Delaeney mentally groaned as she watched Frankie and Mike awkwardly quarrel over who should take because Frankie accidently interrupted him. Delaeney looked at Carol, who seemed unamused by the whole thing.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Frankie asked.

"Oh, I'd love some herbal tea." Carol said and Frankie panicked.

"Oh no. I don't have herbal tea. I know it's good for you, but I don't like it. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I don't have any herbal tea."

Delaeney watched as Sue started to cry and she had to stifle a laugh.

"Honestly, it's okay." Carol consoled, "Look, don't worry. It's better if everyone just stays relaxed, okay? So I'm gonna need to speak with each member of the family individually."

"Great. That sounds great. We're not nervous." Frankie said before letting out high pitched laugh.

~8~

"So how many hours a day would you say you spend together as a family?" Carol asked Delaeney as they sat in her bedroom.

"Um…" Delaeney pondered, "Enough where I wouldn't get annoyed with them."

"Would you say that your 'parents' drink alcohol on a regular basis?"

"I think that they drink an appropriate amount of alcohol."

"Does your mom ever get angry?"

"Uh…"

"And what do you do as a family for fun?"

"Watch TV."

~8~

"Okay," Carol said as she led Delaeney back into the family room and Delaeney sat down next to Axl,

"Brick is up next."

 _Yep, our future was in his hands._

 _~8~_

"It's been a long time." Mike said as he twirled his thumbs, "Wonder how Brick's doing in there."

Frankie had her face in her hand, Axl resting his arms on his knees with his hands together, Delaeney had her head resting on Axl's shoulder and was staring blanky at the floor, and Sue was sitting straight up.

Sue started whimpering.

"Do not start to cry again, Sue." Frankie snapped, "I swear I will-"

"Thank you, Brick." Delaeney heard Carol say and everyone straightened up.

"It was very nice to meet you too."

Delaeney watched as Frankie hurriedly picked up the book on the table and opened it up backwards.

"Oh, are you done already?" Frankie asked, "We were reading some Bible verses. How'd it go?"

"I told her everything that you told me to-" Brick paused, "I mean, the truth."

Carol smiled at Brick before turning to look at the rest of the family.

"I want to thank you all for your honesty and candor. I think I have everything I need, so I will be contacting you shortly."

Delaeney watched Frankie rush after Carol as she left and sighed.

"That was exhausting." Delaeney said and Sue nodded.

"Hey," Axl began curiously, "Do you think foster homes have hot girls."

Sue, Brick, and Delaeney gave Axl a blank stare.

"Really, Axl."

~8~

 _I don't think I ever knew what relief meant until that moment.  
There was an upside to all that happened, though.  
I had written proof that I was a good parent and believe me, it came in handy._

"Can I please get my nose pierced?" Delaeney pleaded to Frankie.

"No."

"Oh, come on. You're the worst mom ever."

"Well it seems like the State of Indiana disagrees with you." Frankie replied as she held up the piece of paper that claimed that she was a good mom.

Delaeney groaned before storming off.

 _Yep.  
It was good to have it in writing._


	8. Thanksgiving

**Okay, so I'm trying to make this more romantic as the story goes on but I don't know if this is too romantic or there's not enough romance between Axl and Delaeney. Also, please review! I honestly love when you guys review. It makes my day and not only that, it makes me want to update faster and update more!**

* * *

Thanksgiving

 _Thanksgiving around here is all about tradition, spending time with your family, and being thankful for everything you have._

 _Of course, everyone has their favorite thing._

 _For Axl, it's my cranberry sauce. For Mike, it's my mashed potatoes. And for Delaeney, Sue, and Brick, it's my homemade pie._

 _But what I love most is the warm, loving feeling I get from saving 80% on the day after Thanksgiving._

 _Black Friday._

~8~

"Can we go to the corn maze today?" Brick asked Frankie as he held up the flyer.

 _Nothing says fall in the Midwest like a corn maze._

 _It's just about the most fun thing ever._

"Oh," Frankie shook her head, "I am not dragging my butt through another corn maze. I can't do it."

"But I've never been." Brick said.

"What?" We've been a million times."

"With Sue, Axl, and Laynee." Brick stated, "I never got to go. I never get to go anywhere."

"It's true," Delaeney piped from the kitchen as she ate some Nutella, "He's never gone to the corn maze."

"That's because you're their least favorite." Axl said from where he stood, holding the phone to his neck.

 _Ironically, at the moment Axl was the least favorite._

"Well, we'll find a time to take you, but not today." Frankie said and Brick nodded and walked off.

"Can I go snowmobiling with my friends on Thanksgiving?" Axl asked as he held the phone to his chest.

"No." Frankie didn't look up from her couponing.

"What if I bring Delaeney with me?" Axl asked again and Delaeney shot him a look.

"No."

Axl scoffed,

"No, dude, I can't. She just totally freaked out on me. She won't even let Delaeney go."

Delaeney rolled her eyes and walked over to Frankie.

"What type of pie are you making this year?" She asked.

"Pumpkin."

"Yay!" Delaeney cheered.

~8~

Delaeney stood in the large gym and stretched her legs.

"Are you ready for the upcoming competition?" Her friend, Sara, asked.

"I guess," Laynee said, "I'm just glad that I don't have the bars."

"Oh my Gosh," Sara suddenly exclaimed and Delaeney looked at her, "Guess who got asked out?"

"You?" Delaeney guessed.

"No. Sue Heck."

"Oh. I was not expecting that."

The two girls continued to chat as they stretched their limbs.

"GIRLS! LET'S GO!" their coach yelled and they groaned.

Delaeney was not looking forward to learning how to do the Amanar Vault.

~8~

Laynee rested her head on Axl's shoulder as he fiddled with a Rubik's Cube and had her leg resting on a stool as an ice pack rested on her leg.

"Got the new Thanksgiving schedule." Frankie announced as she walked through the door. "It's a little funky: we're gonna have to eat dessert on the way home. There's one patch midday where I'm gonna have to be in two place. But, a test drive or a long bathroom break will take care of it. So, yeah, I think I pretty much nailed it."

Delaeney looked at the schedule as Brick turned to Frankie,

"I don't see the corn maze on here. It's only open in the morning, then they're plowing it down."

Frankie sighed,

"Brick, I'm gonna teach you a little phrase that I think will come in very handy. I call it, 'oh, well."

"You know; we went to Disneyland before you were born." Axl commented and Laynee glared at him

 _Poor Brick._

 _He was the forgotten third…. Well, fourth child._

 _But there was no way I could go back to Mr. Ehlert._

 _He was just gonna have to understand that._

~8~

The Heck clan sat in the living room, watching TV. Brick, Axl, and Sue sat on the couch while Delaeney stretched herself across the floor. It was curious to Laynee that Axl was in his clothes and not his underwear but she was so physically dead that she didn't care. She was tired and so done with gymnastics. Sure she liked being able to bend her body and do flips, but she was sore and tired and scared about the competition that was coming up in a few months. Hearing the front door slam, she looked up.

"Okay, I did it." Frankie announced.

"Oh." Laynee said, confused.

"It was hard, but I figured it out. I put the turkey in tonight, we all set our alarms so we eat dinner at dawn. I work till eleven. We record the football game while we take Brick to the corn maze. We then come home, clean up, and get to the mall. And for dessert we split a dairy-free yogurt at the food court. I have a coupon." Frankie smiled.

"Sounds the worst Thanksgiving ever." Axl said.

"It really does," Sue nodded her head in agreement. "Can I got to Brad's instead. I really should be with my boyfriend on Thanksgiving."

"I just really care about the corn maze." Brick stated.

"I didn't hear pie anywhere in the schedule." Laynee frowned.

"No! Thanksgiving is about family. We have Aunt Edie and Aunt Ginny coming over and Big Mike." Frankie said.

"Uh, maybe." Mike muttered.

Delaeney rolled her eyes as Frankie and Mike talked/fought about Big Mike. She just wanted to eat pie, was that too much to ask for? She would even make it herself if that was needed.

"Do you people realize what I have gone through this week to make Thanksgiving happen?" Frankie exclaimed. "You don't appreciate-"

A loud honk cut Frankie off and Laynee looked at Axl as everything clicked into place.

"Oh, hey." Axl said as he stood up and grabbed the bag that in front of him, "That's my ride."

 _When did the bag get there_ , Laynee thought as she stared wide eyed at the bag.

Frankie blankly stared at Axl and Axl rolled his eyes,

"Oh, hey. I figured once my friends came to pick me up you'd be too embarrassed to say no."

"You thought wrong," Frankie said as she yanked open the door and screamed, "No!"

As the screeching of tires was heard, Frankie slammed the door shut and turned back to Axl.

"You know what? You don't care, I don't care. Thanksgivings canceled."

Axl pouted and took off his snow goggles,

"Way to go, Brick."

~8~

Delaeney walked down and into the kitchen with the rest of the Heck kids.

"Where's the good smell?" Sue froze, "Wait, did Mom really cancel Thanksgiving?"

"Yeah," Mike looked up from his coffee, "She's at work."

"Who's gonna make the turkey?" Sue asked with wide eyes.

"Who's gonna open the cranberry sauce." Axl whimpered as he cradled the can to his chest.

"Who's gonna bake the frozen pies?" Laynee asked with tears in her eyes.

"Not Mom," Mike said.

"Dude," Axl whined, "that sucks."

Mike stood up and grabbed a can,

"That's why we're gonna pick up the slack and pull Thanksgiving together for her."

"That sounds hard." Axl said.

"It's not hard. It's not hard at all. Watch." The four kids watched as Mike barely opened the can and went to pour it into a bowl. With bored eyes they watched as a drop of water fell out of the can.

~8~

"Seven hours?" Mike gasped, "I'm gonna have to barbecue the thing."

Mike looked up to see Axl trying to balance a loaf of bread on Laynee's head.

"And I want you two," Axl and Laynee looked over to him, "To take your brother to the corn maze."

"Do you just stay up late trying to figure out ways to ruin my life." Axl snapped.

"I'll go get my coat," Delaeney said as she took the loaf off her head, "and Brick."

Laynee walked out of the kitchen and ran up the stairs. Grabbing one of Axl's hoodies, she went over to Brick, who was sitting in the hallway reading a book.

"Ready to go to the corn maze?" She asked and Brick nodded.

"Let's do this."

~8~

"Wow," Brick awed as they walked through the corn maze, "Now I get why they say: 'The corn is as high as an elephant's eye. Elephant"

"You know when I saw an elephant? When Mom and Dad took us to Africa." Axl said as he swung his and Laynee's conjoined hands.

"They did not." Brick countered.

"Did too. I peed in the Nile. Right, Laynee?" Axl asked and Laynee rolled her eyes.

"Oh, definitely." She agreed sarcastically, "He was in Africa and peed in the Nile."

Laynee pulled her hand out of Axl's and walked next to Brick just as a blonde haired girl walked past them. Knowing that Axl would flirt with her, Delaeney and Brick continued to walk and made a left turn.

"What's up." Axl flirted as he looked the girl up and down.

As Axl turned around, he saw that Delaeney and Brick were not where they used to be.

"Brick? Laynee?" Axl called and he made a right turn. "Laynee! Brick!"

~8~

Axl quickly wandered through the corn maze shouting Brick and Laynee's name.

"Hey," Axl asked as he saw a strange looking man standing in the corn maze, "Have you seen a little kid about this tall," He held his hand up to his waist, "And a girl with a blue hoodie on? She's kinda cute looking. I lost my little brother and… friend."

"I lost my little brother in the corn maze of 53'." The man replied with empty eyes, "When the wind rustles the leaves, I can still hear him calling."

Axl backed away with eyes filled with fear.

"Laynee!"

~8~

Laynee and Brick calmly walked through the maze, enjoying the fall breeze.

"I wonder where Axl is." Laynee said as they walked past a sign that said, 'which way out.'

"Eh. Probably talking to that girl."

~8~

"Brick? Laynee!" Axl cried as he ran down a path.

"Hey! Please help me find my brother and girlfriend." Axl exclaimed as he came face to face with the girl from earlier. "They're lost and I'm so scared."

"Um, what are they wearing?" The girl asked with wide eyes.

"Uh, he's got, like, a green jacket and a yellow hat," Axl panted as his eyes widened and he looked around. "Oh my God, he's dressed like corn. We're never going to find him."

"What about your girlfriend?" The girl asked, trying to calm Axl down.

"She's wearing a dark blue hoodie and a grey beanie." Axl looked around with frantic eyes, "Oh my God, I'm so screwed."

"Hi."

Axl spun around to see Brick looking up at him.

"Brick," Axl breathed as he fell to his knees and hugged Brick, "I'm never letting you out of my sight. Never, ever, ever. Never again, all right."

Brick gave a nod and Axl stiffened.

"Wait, where's Laynee?"

"Oh, hey, Axl." Laynee said as she appeared from behind a clump of corn stalks, "the weather's really nice, don't you think?"

Axl scrambled to his feet and launched himself at Laynee, pulling her into a tight hug.

"I am never, ever, ever, ever letting you out of my sight too." He said as he rested his head on her shoulder, his body relaxing.

"Okay," Laynee said as she hugged him back.

~8~

"Grandpa Big Mike," Brick said as he, Axl, and Delaeney stopped in front of Big Mike and Mike.

Axl clung tightly to Delaeney's hand.

"Is that the turkey?" Delaeney asked as she stared at the turkey that had been sawed in half.

"Yeah," Mike said and Laynee nodded.

"Cool."

"How was the corn maze?" Mike asked and Axl stiffened slightly.

"Axl hugged me." Brick said.

"Oh, shut up, dweeb." Axl said as he led Brick past them before whispering, "I love you. I love you so much."

~8~

The whole Heck family sat at the dinner table while Laynee sat in between Sue and Axl.

"She's here," Sue whispered and everyone settled down. "Let's surprise her."

Laynee excitedly shifted in her seat and waited for Frankie to unlock the door. Delaeney raised her eyebrow as she heard Frankie fumble around for an excessive amount of time as she tried to open the door.

"Surprise! Happy Thanksgiving!" Everyone exclaimed as Frankie entered the house.

 _They did care._

 _They really are perfect._

"Come sit down." Mike said and Frankie walked over and sat.

"Oh, this all looks so yummy." Frankie cooed as she looked at the food in front of her.

"Hey," Bob said as he came in holding a bag, "Frankie you forgot your—'canceled dinner'? God, this is high school all over again.

"Oh, no, Bob, they surprised me." Frankie explained.

"Yeah," Delaeney agreed, "Come join us."

"I got extra yams in the car. With marshmallows." Bob said. "I'll be right back."

Delaeney helped Axl serve everyone as Frankie took off to the bathroom.

"She's drunk." Laynee stated to Axl and he laughed.

"Definitely."

~8~

Delaeney stood next to Axl as Mike talked to Frankie who was sleeping on the bathroom floor and smiled. She had to admit, this Thanksgiving was a good one.

 _Thanksgiving is the time you appreciate your family the most but the one Thanksgiving I didn't spend with my family I appreciated more than ever._

"See kids, let this be a lesson. Drinking is not cool." Mike said.

"Mike, I told them I had the flu."

"See kids, lying is also not cool."

Frankie groaned.

"Honey, let me close this up just a bit. There you go. We have company. Okay. Night, honey. Happy Thanksgiving."

* * *

 **I just want to make it clear that Axl and Delaeney are NOT dating. Axl only called Laynee his girlfriend because he was so worried and scared that he did it subconsciously. However, this might be foreshadowing something :)**

 **See you in the next chapter,**

 **Ana**


	9. Siblings

Siblings

 _My worst fears were about to be realized._

 _There was one event I could not afford to be late for and this was it._

 _Yup, when you show up late for Booster Club you paid the price._

 _I had no idea where I was going to put all these wreaths._

Frankie watched as Sean, one of Axl's teammates, picked up his two younger siblings and spun them around and awed.

 _After all the crap that had been thrown at me that night, the sight of those three kids lovingly frolicking around the room really bugged the hell out of me._

 _I couldn't really put my finger on why till I got home._

 _I've never seen my kids frolic together._

 _It's like they were three strangers at a bus station waiting to get out of there._

 _Maybe they didn't hang out because Sue and Axl had nothing in common._

 _Or maybe it's because Brick's so much younger._

 _Or maybe because Brick's so much Brick._

 _And it's not like Delaeney didn't have a part in this._

 _Sure, she hung out with Sue and Brick sometimes, but she mostly spent time with Axl._

 _Maybe it's because Sue was more outgoing and younger that she and Delaeney didn't hang out as much._

 _Brick… well, Brick's just Brick and there's only certain amount of Brick you can stand._

 _But Delaeney and Axl… they're like an old married couple._

 _They have fights, make up, and are back attached at hip._

 _However, when the four of them are forced to do anything together that's when the fun starts._

 _It starts out with Axl coping Sue and then Brick starts to copy Axl and Delaeney just records the whole thing._

"What is wrong with you people? Why are you watching the same show on three different TV's?" Frankie exclaimed.

"We can't agree on the volume." Brick replied.

~8~

Delaeney laid face first on the floor of Axl's room as he laid across the bed.

"You know," Axl began lazily, "there's a bed right here."

Delaney groaned and rolled onto her back.

"Do you know how much effort it would take to get onto the bed when I could just continue to do nothing and lay on the floor."

Axl paused,

"Touché."

A comfortable silence rested between the two before Mike yelled for them to come downstairs.

Delaeney groaned and slowly got up.

"Come on, Axl." She said as she shook his foot, "Get up."

Axl groaned and Delaeney pulled on his foot.

"Let's go."

~8~

"Why are there plates on the table?" Axl asked as he approached the kitchen to see the table set.

"Do we have company?" Laynee added as she looped her fingers through his.

Frankie shook her head.

"No, this is where we're eating."

"What? I don't wanna watch the little TV." Axl whined as Sue and Brick joined them.

"Did someone break the big TV?" Sue questioned, suspiciously.

"The TV's fine." Frankie reassured as she placed the drinks out, "We're just not watching them until after supper. Tonight, we're having a family dinner in here for a change."

Axl looked at Frankie with a horrified face before looking at Mike,

"Dad?"

"You heard your mother." Mike announced, "Everybody sit down."

Delaeney awkwardly shuffled to a seat and slowly sat down as she looked at Frankie suspiciously.

"What's the big deal? We've eaten at the table before." Frankie said as everyone ate.

"I don't have a chair." Brick stated.

 _Huh._

 _I guess we hadn't eaten at the table since we had Brick._

"No problem," Frankie said as she got up, "We have more chairs outside."

"Dad, why are we doing this?" Brick asked as soon as Frankie left.

"Un, maybe your mom and I need to talk to you." Mike said. "I don't know."

"Hey," Laynee pondered, "Maybe my parents are asking for me to come back."

"Your parents would make a bigger deal if they were going to do that." Mike stated and Laynee nodded.

"Yeah. You're probably right."

"Are you getting a divorce?" Sue asked.

"Let's see how this goes." Mike said as he sipped his drink.

Hearing the back door close, Delaeney looked up to see Frankie walk in and brush the snow off the chair.

"This'll be fun." Frankie said as she gave Brick the chair and sat down. "You know; this is actually how a lot of people eat dinner every night. They sit and face each other. They ask questions about how their day went. Let's do that. So, what was your high and wat was your low of the day?"

"My low is right now." Axl said as he took a sip of Laynee's Dr. Pepper.

Delaeney snatched her drink back and stole one of Axl's fries.

"Fine," Frankie said, "I'll do it. My high Is having dinner with my family. My low is the comment that Axl made."

Frankie looked over at Delaeney.

"Um, okay." Delaeney began, "My high was going to the ice cream shop with Axl. My low was when Axl ate my ice cream."

"Okay. Sue?" Frankie said.

"My high was the guy who sits next to me in Science saw me in the hallway and today and seemed to sort of recognize me." Sue's face dropped, "My low was that I was wrong. He didn't."

Axl sneezed,

"Loser."

"What did I say about sneezing words at your sister?" Mike said and Axl made a face.

"My low is realizing that my family never bought me a chair." Brick announced, "My high is that I can eat off the table."

"Oh wait, I wanna change my low." Axl said.

"Okay, all right." Frankie said. "We'll do something different. Everybody look at the person on your left and say something nice."

"You mean well." Mike said to Frankie.

"Thank you. Axl, you do Sue." Frankie said.

Axl groaned.

"Your head is basically the right size for your body."

"Really? You're not just saying that?" Sue asked, excited.

"No, it's everything, like, below the head that's go the problem."

"Shut up." Sue said.

"You know what shuts people up?" Axl asked, "TV."

"Listen, you kids are not even trying." Frankie exclaimed. "You're brother and sister. This is the only relationship that's gonna last your whole life. You know, someday your dad and I are not gonna be around anymore and you're only going to have each other."

"Are you dying?" Sue asked, "That's why we are eating at the table. She's dying."

"No! I am not dying!" Frankie exclaimed.

"Oh, my God." Sue started to cry, "Dad's dying."

"Nobody's dying."

"Why can't we all just die now and get this over with." Axl said.

Delaeney sat in silence with Brick as they watched their family argue.

"All right, that's it! That's it!" Mike yelled, "You four are gonna start loving each other right now because that's what your mother wants."

Delaeney ran her fingers through her hair and sighed.

"Right? Is that what you want?" Mike asked Frankie.

 _So despite my best efforts the family dinner had wheezed and choked itself to a final, undignified death._

"Can we go watch TV now?" Brick asked and Frankie watched as all of the kids simultaneously looked at her.

"Yeah," Frankie said, defeated. "Throw out your plates."

The kids scrambled out of their seats and raced to the trash can as Frankie sighed.

~8~

Delaeney was curled up into Axl and he had his arm around her shoulders as they watched TV. Delaeney was slowly falling asleep when Mike's voice woke her up,

"Okay, everybody. This family is heading outside to play touch football."

"Football? Why?" Sue asked as Mike turned her TV off.

"I don't wanna play with her." Axl whined.

"I don't wanna run." Laynee complained.

"But this is my favorite commercial." Brick said and Mike turned off his TV.

"What did Mom do to you?" Axl asked in horror.

"What your mother did is none of your business." Mike said. "Brothers and sisters are supposed to appreciate each other. Aunt Edie wheels Aunt Ginny into the quarry every day and she doesn't even know where she is. That's the love and support that I wanna start seeing around here. Let's move. Now."

~8~

 _At first it was a little shaky, but then I had an idea._

"Kids versus Adults."

Delaeney, Brick, Axl, and Sue stood huddled in a circle as they formed their game plan.

"So Dad's peripheral vision is starting to go and Mom can't run too fast or she'll pee. So go deep and to the left. Ready?" Axl asked and they all nodded, "Break!"

 _After a few plays, something weird happened._

"I did it!" Sue squealed as she held up the football.

Axl yelled and spun her around while Delaeney congratulated her.

 _Those kids were throwing and laughing like a bunch of Donahues._

"Sue, do 10 yards out. Brick, 5-yard buttonhook, Laynee, I want you to pass. I'm gonna roll out right, and find Brick in the end zone." Axl said.

"I've got a better idea." Brick said and they all looked at him.

~8~

"Car." Brick called as Laynee passed to Sue while Mike and Frankie were distracted.

Frankie and Mike watched as Sue ran to Axl, who was on the other end, before playfully arguing with Brick.

Laynee gave a small laugh as Brick started to do a victory dance and gave him a high five a Axl and Sue jogged back.

 _Later, the kids came inside and had dessert together._

 _And to my utter amazement, Axl didn't pretend to commit suicide once._

 _There was no two ways about it._

 _Mike was on to something._

~8~

"Hey," Axl said as he tossed the football to Mike, "You ready for some touch football?"

"What's that now?" Frankie asked, oblivious.

"Kids versus the elderly." Delaeney said as she pulled on her coat.

"Let's go." Sue agreed.

"Oh, guys, we have both had really hard days? Why don't you play without us?" Frankie said.

"But it won't be any fun without you." Brick said.

 _Yup, the kids had such a good time they wanted to do it the next night._

 _And the next night._

 _And the next night._

 _Turns out there is a way to bond your kids, have tons of family fun together._

 _Only trouble is, it requires spending a whole lot of time with them._

~8~

Delaeney pulled her navy blue coat on as Mike and Frankie talked.

"OW! Damn," She heard Mike said and she looked at him.

"What?" Frankie asked.

"My knee went out for a second. I'm gonna have to sit this one out."

"Oh." Frankie said.

"Mom, you still coming?" Delaeney asked as Axl held her hand.

"Yeah, I'll be right out." Frankie responded and the kids nodded before walking out the door.

~8~

"Mom," Delaeney heard Sue say, "You're not even running."

Delaeney was laying on the snow and staring at the blue sky above her. This game wasn't as enjoyable as the last few games and Delaeney didn't want to waste any of her effort if Frankie wasn't going to waste hers.

"I really should start making calls about those wreaths." Frankie said and Delaeney sat up.

"Forget it," Sue sighed, "I'm just gonna go watch TV."

Delaeney scrambled to her feet and headed towards the door,

"I call the big TV."

"No fair," Brick whined, "You and Axl always get the big TV."

"No, no. Stop." Frankie exclaimed and they all looked at her. "You can't go inside because I'm going inside."

"Why not?" Sue asked.

"You gotta stay out here and bond, damn it." Frankie said.

"What? No way." Axl said, "I'm not gonna play with my stupid sister and dork brother. I would play with Delaeney but she doesn't know what she's doing."

"True," Delaeney agreed, "I'm more of a soccer person."

"Hey," Brick said, "I'm not a dork. _Dork_."

"I was dragging my sorry butt out here every night because I thought it'd help you love each other." Frankie complained, "But, nooo, we're right back to where we started. Well, you know what I say? Love each other, don't love each other, I'm done."

Frankie threw the football on the ground and Delaeney watched as it shot back up and hit her in the face. Frankie groaned and stumbled before falling into the snow.

"Mom, are you okay?" Brick asked as they all rushed to crowd around her.

"No, it hurts like hell."

Delaeney, Axl, Sue, and Brick all started laughing at Frankie as she laid in the ground.

 _So my plan to bring the kids closer hadn't worked the way I wanted_

"Come on, guys, stop laughing."

"That was awesome, mom." Axl said.

"Okay, I'm sorry, Mom, but that was hilarious." Sue added.

"And when you fell down, you rolled through dog poop." Laynee laughed.

 _I had given them a story they were gonna share and enjoy long after I was gone._

~8~

"So she spiked the ball and it bounced back right off her face." Axl explained as Mike and Frankie sat on the couch.

"Off her face." Mike said.

"Yeah," Delaeney nodded, "Axl does this great expression."

"Do it, Axl." Sue encouraged, "It's really funny."

"Okay, okay."

 _Isn't that what bonds kids after all? The eye-rolling, the laughing together over the stupid things we do?_

 _I think so._

 _Or maybe that's just the excuse of a lazy, lazy parent._

 _Either way, I'm doing the best I can._

~8~

"I know you're rolling your eyes, I'm a horrible mother." Frankie said as Sue, Brick, Axl, and Delaeney trudged after her, covered in wreaths. "But we have thirty wreaths to deliver, so let's move it."

Delaeney watched as Frankie knocked on the door and felt something being put in her hair.

"What are you doing, Axl?"

"Just giving you a wreath."

Looking up, Delaeney saw that Axl had put one of his wreaths on top of her head so that he now was only carrying two while she carried four.

"Take it off."

"Wish my kids got along like that." Delaeney heard the woman say and she looked at her. "How do you do it, Frankie?"

 _Could've told her the truth, spared her the pain I'd gone through._

"It's a lot of work, but Mike and I have just always made family a priority." Frankie explained as they all turned to leave.

"Just keep walking. Nobody fight till we get to the next house."


	10. Christmas

**Yay! We made it to double digits! Thank you for the reviews! I'm sorry this chapter is late.**

 **To answer NessieBooEvans: I'm good. How are you?**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Christmas

 _Dear friends and family,_

 _Merry Christmas._

 _2009 has been a busy and exciting year for the Hecks._

 _Last summer, I lost my job in the dental office but was lucky enough to land a new, thrilling job selling cars. And thanks to his years of hard work, Mike got a promotion at the quarry and is now manager. Even Axl, who's now fifteen, has recently joined the work force and we are having so much fun watching him work. Delaeney, who is also fifteen, has also joined the work force by babysitting. And Sue, thirteen,_ _is busy._

 _Sue made._

 _Sue tried out for._

 _Sue has a boyfriend._

 _But nothing says Christmas like the wonder and magic on our little boy, Brick's, face._

Frankie paused as Brick came into the room and discussed his non-understanding of Christmas.

 _Ah, the first tradition of Christmas. The putting off of the Christmas letter._

~8~

Delaeney bounded down the stairs and raced into the kitchen to see Sue, Frankie, Axl, and Mike.

"Ello, Captain. How the weather?" Delaeney asked Axl with a British accent.

Axl rolled his eyes and brushed past her,

"Great."

"We still going to the mall?" She asked Frankie from the doorway.

"Yeah, go get your stuff so we can go." Frankie replied and Delaeney nodded before running back upstairs to grab her coat.

~8~

Delaeney sat in between Axl and Brick as they sat at church. Axl had his hand wrapped loosely around hers and they watched as the priest started to speak.

"Welcome, friends. Before we begin, please join me in praying for a member of our congregation, Melanie Howard." Delaeney let go of Axl's hand and everyone folded their hands in prayer, "May she make a quick recovery from her throat polyps."

A motion caught Delaeney's eye and she looked over to see Frankie shaking her head. Delaeney looked at her hands and then to Frankie before carefully putting her hands in her lap.

~8~

"I have just come back from rehearsal and I can safely say that I am going to blow the roof off that church tonight." Delaeney heard Frankie say and she looked up from the bowl of candy in front of her.

"Wouldn't it be funny if she got throat polyps right before her solo?" Delaeney asked Axl as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"That would be great."

"How's Gary?" Delaeney asked Sue since she was sitting in between her and Axl.

"Fine," Sue replied stiffly.

"Really?" Delaeney pushed.

"No," Sue spilled, "He hasn't kissed me and every time we get close, he avoids it."

"Egh," Axl groaned, "I don't wanna hear this."

As the four kids watched TV, they heard Mike and Frankie having a small argument in the kitchen.

"Ah," Axl said as he ate some Skittles, "Now it's starting to feel like Christmas."

~8~

Delaeney slept peacefully as she rested her head against Sue shoulder and Axl rested his head on hers. She was in that type of sleep where she knew what was going in around her but she her body didn't want to move. Right as she finally felt deep sleep claim her she heard Mike's chair snap closed.

"Oh, no. Oh, no." She heard him say and she groaned.

"Sue, Axl, Delaeney, Brick. Get up. We're late."

"What?" Delaeney said as she slowly got up and rubbed her eyes.

"Oh, Nice, Dad." Axl said as he rubbed his face. "Classic."

"Oh, no." Sue said as she got up, "Are we gonna make it? I'm not dressed for church."

"No time." Mike said as he pulled his shoes on, "Throw something on and let's go now."

Delaeney looked down at her pink pajama shirt and blue plaid pants before racing to get her coat from the coat rack.

"What about presents?" She asked as she slipped her coat on, "Mom lets us open one present on Christmas Eve."

"You can open it when we get back." Mike said and Delaeney nodded.

"It won't be Christmas Eve when we get back, it will be Christmas Day." Sue pointed out.

"Fine. Grab a present and open it in the car."

Delaeney and Axl, who had pulled on sweatpants and his coat, raced over to the Christmas tree and started grabbing the presents, looking for their own.

"There are no tags!" Laynee exclaimed as she looked over the presents.

"Tags?" Mike questioned, "That wasn't on my list. Just throw them in the car, we can sort them on the way. Let's just move. Brick, head for the car."

Delaeney piled as many presents as she could in Axl's arms before grabbing some of her own and rushing out the front door.

"If your mom asks, we couldn't find a parking spot."

~8~

Laynee sat in between Sue and Brick as Sue opened the presents and handed them out.

"This one's for Brick." Sue said as she reached over Laynee and handed Brick a book.

"Don't get too into that book." Mike warned, "We're all jumping out as soon as we get to the church."

"Oh, my God." Sue gasped, "A cell phone?"

"That's for Axl."

Sue pouted and continued to look through the presents and Delaeney decided to help her. Something was wrong,

"There's no present for me?" Sue said as Delaeney frantically shuffled through the paper.

"There's nothing here for me either." Laynee added.

"Did you even get us anything?" Sue asked, unamused.

"Delaeney got a book series and you got a Rihanna CD and a Twilight-" Sue cut Mike off.

"Well, don't tell me what you got me." Sue sighed, "I wish Mom had done Christmas."

"Well, get in line." Mike said.

~8~

Frankie stood in front of the church, singing her solo. She was disappointed. Her family hadn't showed up and they wouldn't wait an extra few minutes so that they could come in; if they were coming. In the middle of here solo, Frankie saw the doors open and Mike, Sue, Brick, Laynee, and Axl shuffled in. She put her hand on her hip as she continued to sing when she saw that they were all in their pajamas. She watched as Delaeney quickly zipped up Axl's jacket and Mike motioned for them to go left into the last isle. Frankie raised her eyebrow as Axl walked straight into the pew armrest and bent over as Delaeney tried to stifle her giggles.

Frankie narrowed her eyes at Mike.

~8~

The Heck clan sat in silence as they felt waves of aggravation come off Frankie on their way home.

"How could you be late?" Frankie exploded and Axl immediately pointed finger.

"It was dad's fault. He fell asleep?"

"Why was that?" Frankie asked sarcastically, "Is it because you were exhausted? Is it because Christmas is hard?"

"It's not hard." Mike muttered. "We would've been there sooner but the kids had to open a gift."

"Oh, some gift." Axl announced, "I've only got family minutes. Why would I wanna talk to my family?"

"You didn't even get Sue and I anything." Delaeney added and the argument in the car climaxed.

"Everybody stop yelling." Brick shouted before whispering, " _Yelling."_

Brick gasped,

"Oh, no. _Oh, no._ Oh, no. _Oh, no_. I can't stop. _I can't stop."_

"See what you did." Sue directed at Axl.

"What I did? What did I do."

The arguing once again commenced and suddenly, the car spun out of control. Delaeney screamed and wrapped her arms around Axl's torso, squeezing her eyes shut. Axl grabbed the handle above the window with his hands and joined everyone in the yelling/ screaming.

"Nice driving, dad." Axl commented once the car stopped.

"Watch where you're going." Brick added and the car once again spun out of control.

Delaeney screamed again and held on tighter to Axl as Axl wrapped one arm around Delaeney and used the other arm to hold the handle. Everybody started to scream again and there was a somber quite when the car stopped.

"Beautiful solo, mom." Sue quietly said as Delaeney still clung to Axl.

"Thank you, Sue."

"I, uh, I like my cell phone, Dad." Axl said as he kept his arm around Delaeney.

"You're welcome, son."

A relieved yet stressful silence passed before Mike spoke,

"Frankie, Christmas is hard."

"Thank you," Frankie sighed, "That's all I wanted to hear."

"Hey, look what I found." Brick cried as he lifted up a PEZ dispenser, "My Santa PEZ dispenser. It slid out from underneath the seat the second time we almost died. It's a Christmas miracle."

 _So almost dying, twice had made the rest of us start thinking about our own existence._

 _But for Brick, it made him stop._

 _Was the two-year-old PEZ dispenser sliding out from under the dirty, crud-encrusted bottom of our seat a Christmas miracle._

 _Who knows._

 _I'd like to think yes because Brick was the happiest I've ever seen him that Christmas._

~8~

Delaeney raced back into the house holding a large box with a giant bow on it.

"Hey," She exclaimed as she entered the house, "look at what was on our porch."

"Laynee, do you know who this is from?" Frankie asked as Laynee brought it into the living room.

"Nah. Can we open it?" Delaeney's eyes shined with excitement and Frankie smiled.

"Of course."

As Delaeney pulled the box open, the rest of the family gathered around to see what was inside.

"Look," Sue exclaimed as Delaeney pulled out six packages wrapped paper with white and gold designs, "They're presents."

The family all reached and grabbed the presents that had their names on them.

"What…." Delaeney asked as she opened hers.

"Sock?" Sue said in disbelief.

"That's so lame." Axl said as he tossed his socks.

"Ah," Mike said with a sigh, "Jacob and Rebecca never cease to amaze me."

The Heck family laughed and continued to open their presents with smiles.

 _Don't get me wrong._

 _Christmas is hard._

 _But no matter how stressed you are, the 25_ _th_ _rolls around and it's great and wonderful and the best Christmas ever._

 _It's like giving birth._

 _You forget the pain and can't wait to do it again next year._

 _Happy Holidays._

 _Love,_

 _The Hecks._

* * *

 **This chapter was a bit challenging to write. I didn't know how to fit Laynee it in. Tell me what you think. Also, do you want more romance?**

 **See you next time,**

 **Ana**


	11. The Jeans

**Sorry for the delay. Last week I was out helping a camp get set up for the summer. Thanks for all the reviews!**

* * *

The Jeans

 _The teen years._

 _The clothes may change, the hair may change, what get pierced may change too, but one thing doesn't change._

 _Teenagers suck._

 _They crying, the mood swings, the unpredictable behavior._

Delaeney sat next to Brick and ate her cereal as Frankie yelled at Axl to get up,

"Axl, you better get up or you're gonna miss the bus. I am not telling you again. Get up. Get up. Get up!"

"Hey," Delaeney heard Axl say and she turned around to see him walk in holding a newspaper and wearing a smile.

"You're up." Frankie said astonished.

"Yeah," Axl handed the newspaper to Mike, "I got up early, decided to take the trash to the curb, and got the paper for you. That's a pretty blouse, Mom."

Frankie stared wide-eyed at Axl and turned to Delaeney and motioned her head towards him. Delaeney shrugged and continued to eat as Axl sat down in the seat next to her.

 _Like I said,_

 _Unpredictable behavior._

"I can't go to school today." Sue cried as she stormed in. "My hair is stringy, my face is too oval, and I have no friends."

"Honey," Frankie cooed, "Why don't you take a sick day? It'll be our little secret."

"And not see my friends? Yeah, great idea, Mom. God, it's like you don't even understand me at all."

~8~

"Mom. Dad." Axl said as he and Laynee walked into the kitchen, "Listen, I wanna talk to you guys about something."

"You're gonna have to marry her and you can't live here." Mike stated.

"Mike," Frankie whispered, "I happen to like Delaeney living here."

Mike made a face and turned his attention back to Axl,

"You can live here but you have to marry her."

"Listen," Axl said as he ignored them, "I'm sixteen now and I think we can all agree that I've proven myself to be responsible."

"You took the garbage out once." Mike said as he crossed his arms.

"And I brought you the paper." Axl added, "So I think you guys should consider the fact that I deserve my own car."

 _And there it was._

 _The reason Axl was being so nice._

 _Ever since Axl got his driver's license a few weeks ago, he'd been chomping at the bit to drive every chance he can get._

 _And since Laynee still hasn't gotten her license yet, he'd been taking every opportunity to show off his driving freedom._

"You want a car? You're gonna have to work for it and earn it yourself." Mike said.

"Yeah, I had a job." Axl stated, "It sucked. But I still want a car, so you can see my dilemma."

"Well, you know, I have a job and a car so you can see the connection." Mike said and a loud groan from Sue was heard.

"You know, if I had a car I could take her to the insane asylum." Axl pointed out as Mike and Frankie walked off.

Axl groaned and Delaeney opened the fridge door, grabbing some apple juice.

"You know, Axl, you can help me with my babysitting."

"Yeah, how 'bout no."

"Suit yourself."

~8~

"Hey. I need to meet some friends at Pizza Pan." Axl said as he stood by the door, "Oh, right. If someone had bought me a car like other people buy people jeans I could drive myself, but if you wanna play favorites with your kids then I guess I'm gonna need a ride when you guys go out tonight." He sighed dramatically, "Big drag for you."

"Sure," Frankie said, "We'll give you a ride. Does Delaeney need one too?"

"No. She's already there. Her friend took her and another girl."

~8~

"Also, if I had my own car, I could take Sue to the orthodontist and look for that dog that Brick is going to lose." Axl said as they drove in the car, "I mean, I'm just thinking about you."

Frankie rolled her eyes as Mike drove up to the curb,

"Who's that girl waving at us? Ooh, is that Laynee next to her?" Frankie asked.

"Yeah, and nobody, see you later." Axl said as he tried to open the door but Mike quickly locked it, "Oh, come on, let me out."

"Not until you tell us who that girl is." Mike said.

"How should I know?"

"Wow, she seems friendly." Frankie announced as she waved back at the girl, "Hi."

"Sure is. Hi, friendly stranger." Mike agreed as he waved.

"Oh, God." Axl groaned, "Please would you just stop."

There was a short pause as Axl debated on what he should say,

"She's just some girl…. I've kind of been seeing. Let me out."

"If we had given you a car, we would never have found this out friend of yours." Frankie said. "What's her name? Where'd you meet her."

"Kate. School. She's an excellent student and a good influence on me. Can I get out now?" Axl asked impatiently.

"Sure." Mike began, "Wait a minute. I think, Frankie, we should meet this Kate."

"Definitely got to meet her."

"Fine," Axl agreed, "Just don't say anything moronic like, "Nice to meet you or pleasure to meet you or good to meet you."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Axl quickly got out of the car and Mike and Frankie watched as Delaeney and Kate walked towards then and stopped in front of Frankie's window.

"Kate, some people who gave birth to me. People. Kate." Axl introduced.

"It's so nice to meet you." Kate gushed.

"You too. Hi, Delaeney."

"Hey." Delaeney responded with a smile.

"Okay, this has been awkward. Let's go." Axl said as he grabbed Laynee's hand and pulled her away and Kate followed them.

"Wow." Frankie said once Axl, Laynee, and Kate had left, "She's pretty."

"Boat-show-model pretty." Mike agreed.

"It's weird though."

"What."

"Axl said he's been seeing that girl but he walked away holding hands with Laynee."

~8~

"That cost a hundred and twelve bucks?" Frankie asked when she saw Axl and Mike roll up in a beat up looking car.

"Hundred ten. Keep the change." Mike said, "Buy yourself something pretty."

"I can't wait to show Layn- I mean, Kate my new car."

Frankie and Mike gave each other knowing looks as Axl quickly walked into the house,

"Just gonna go call Kate and tell her about my car."

 _I have a feeling that Axl isn't really into Kate._

~8~

"Wow, Axl." Delaeney gasped as she stared at the old car, "You've got your own car!"

Axl stifled a smile and cleared his throat, leaning against the car.

"Yeah, Dad and I are gonna clean it up and soon it's gonna be like brand new."

"That's so cool."

Delaeney felt her phone buzz and looked down.

"I have to go over to Mrs. Brown's to babysit." She looked up and smiled at him, "Maybe you can show me the rest of the car when I get back."

Axl felt a light blush rise from his neck and scratched his neck,

"I could walk with you to Mrs. Brown's if you like."

"Okay!" Delaeney smiled and took his hand as they walked down the street.

~8~

Delaeney heard her bedroom door slam open and looked up from her book to see Axl standing in front of her, crying.

"I thought you were gonna go see a movie before she dumped you." Delaeney said and Axl glared at her.

"Dad took her home before we even went to the movie. He's ruining my life." Axl cried as jumped onto the open space of the bed.

"Awe," Delaeney cooed, "I'm sure that she'll go another date with you."

"She texted Bella."

"Ah, that sucks."

~8~

Delaeney shot up from Axl's bed as she heard Sue yell,

"My jeans!"

Racing down the stairs and into the laundry room, she saw a litter of puppies in the laundry basket and she gasped.

"So cute," Delaeney squealed as she sat in the living room with her family and the rest of the puppies.

 _Yup, the next few years wouldn't be easy._

 _Hormones, dating, driving._

 _But whenever I got frustrated I remembered the look of the dog's eyes and thought, "At least I got it better than Doris."_


	12. The Neighbor

The Neighbor

 _You wouldn't know to look, but we're all afraid of different things._

 _Now, some people are afraid of spiders._

 _Some are afraid of flying._

 _Other, death._

 _But at our house, it's kickball._

Delaeney sat curled up in Axl's side as Axl flipped through the channels.

"It's so lame around here. There's nothing on TV, there's nothing to do." Axl whined.

"Here's something." Frankie said as she tossed Axl a rubber ball, "Take your brother and teach him to kick this."

"Can't." Axl said, "Book report."

"Then turn off the TV and get on it."

"Fine, I'll teach him, whatever. Just get off my back. God."

Delaeney stretched herself along the couch as Axl got up before Frankie turned to her,

"You go with him. Make sure that he's actually teaching Brick how to kick it."

Delaeney sighed and slowly got up.

~8~

Delaeney walked through the door, holding a tissue under her bleeding nose. Stupid newbie who thought she could do a cartwheel. Freezing, she turned to see Brick sitting at the kitchen table reading a book.

"Hey, Brick." Delaeney said as she approached him, "I thought Axl was supposed to be teaching you how to kick a ball."

"Oh, yeah, he did." Brick said.

"Then why aren't you outside."

"Because he already showed me and now I have to write a twenty paged report on Moby Dick for him."

Delaeney cautiously nodded before smirking,

"Don't you think you should make him work for that book report?"

Brick looked up at her and blinked,

"Sure."

~8~

"I finished your book report." Brick said as Axl walked into the room.

"Cool." Axl looked around, "Where is it?"

"In a safe place. You'll get it when you teach me how to kick a ball." Brick looked over at Laynee, who was standing in the kitchen, and she gave him a thumbs up.

"Nicely played, little man. Nicely played." Axl said as he picked up the ball and headed towards the door.

~8~

"Dude, come on, kicking the ball is the easiest thing in the world." Axl said as he picked up the ball.

"Then why can't I do it?" Brick complained.

"You miss every time you look at the ball." Delaeney pointed out, "Maybe you should close your eyes."

Brick shrugged,

"Okay."

As soon as Brick covered his eyes, Axl rolled the ball and they watched in amazement as Brick kicked it.

"Whoa! I did it." Brick gasped, "I kicked the ball."

"Good job, Brick." Laynee cheered.

"That was awesome. You were like a Jedi knight. That was the coolest thing I've ever seen." Axl added, "Come on. Let's go inside."

Once they all were inside, Delaeney headed to the fridge and grabbed a Rootbeer for both her and Axl.

 _Spending time that day with Axl was one of the greatest moments in Brick's life._

 _In fact, it was so great that Brick didn't want it to end._

"All right." Axl began, "You kicked a ball. Now where's my report."

Delaeney watched as Brick pulled out a piece of paper and frowned. This wasn't part of the plan.

"I even misspelled 'harpoon' so she'll think you wrote it."

Axl snatched the paper and turned it around,

"Where's the rest? This is supposed to be twenty pages."

"It was fun when you taught me to kick a ball." Brick mused, "So every time you're nice and play with me, you get another page."

'What?" Axl cried, "That wasn't part of the deal."

"Feel free to do the report yourself."

"Brick, this wasn't part of the plan." Delaeney agreed and Axl whirled around to face her.

"You were in on this?" Axl exclaimed and Laynee froze.

"You know what, I should probably start my homework."

"Laynee," Axl called as she ran up the stair, "You can't leave me with this."

Axl sighed and turned to face Brick,

"Okay, fine. How about a sandwich."

"Peanut butter, no crust."

~8~

 _But more importantly, a hero in the eyes of my own family._

 _It was finally over._

 _Finally, there was peace._


	13. The Interview

The Interview

 _Some days are just like any other._

"Okay," Frankie said as she paused the TV, "Commercial. Let's hear about everybody's day. I'll go first. I went to work, filled my purse with doughnuts, didn't sell a car, came home."

"There's doughnuts?" Brick asked and Frankie shook her head,

"I hit a lot of red lights on the way back. All right, next."

"I didn't make the chess team. Turns out it's nothing like checkers." Sue said.

"I finally sneezed this eraser out of my nose." Brick said and he held up the eraser.

"Ew." Frankie said as she swatted the eraser out of his hand.

"I did stuff." Axl said.

"Nothing really interesting happened to me today." Delaeney said before eating a fry.

"I found a dinosaur bone." Everyone turned their heads and looked at Mike.

"What?"

 _Then again. Some days really surprise you._

"Yeah, I was in the south end of the quarry. All of a sudden, I looked down, and there's this gnarled claw-bone thing." Mike explained.

"Awesome."

"Cool."

"That's amazing."

"That's not lame." The kids said in awe.

"Yeah, I'll call the college and have them come pick it up." Mike said with a sigh.

"What?" Frankie said, "You're gonna let them take credit for your discovery? Mike this is a big deal."

"You should call the Orson Herald." Sue added, "Maybe they'll put your picture in the paper."

"Oh, they don't want my picture."

"Well, they did do that whole article on the guy who found the chicken nugget shaped like Texas." Laynee pointed out, "I think you'll get in."

 _So, Mike called Orson Herald, who called the local news, who called the nation news._

 _And just like that, Mike was out of a job._

~8~

Delaeney raced down the stairs when she heard Mike announce that he had dinner. Entering the living room, she grabbed a bag of food and sat down next to Axl as Frankie and Mike walked into the kitchen.

"What's going on?" She asked as she opened her burger.

"Dad lost his job." Sue said before continuing once she saw Laynee's panicked face, "Mom said we'll be fine."

Delaeney nodded and leaned back into the sofa.

~8~

Axl threw Laynee's door open, jolting her from her sleep.

"Axl?" She questioned as she sat up and rubbed her eyes, "What do you want?"

"Dad's forcing me to go with him to the Orson Job Fair this weekend so, I'm forcing you to come with me." Axl said from the doorway.

"Why do I have to go? I already have a job." Laynee asked and Axl shrugged,

"Because you're my best friend."

"Fine." Delaeney sighed before laying back down.

Axl turned to leave but stopped and quickly said,

"Nice bedhead."

He left just in time to miss the pillow that was thrown at him from the blushing girl.

~8~

Delaeney walked next to Axl as he texted with the guy from the movie theater. She honestly didn't know why she was here.

"Is this the line just to go in?" Mike said as he looked down at the long line, "Wow, lot of people looking for jobs."

"This is lame. I'm the only one here under one hundred," Axl complained.

"Why am I here?" Laynee asked and Axl swung his arm over his shoulder, pulling her into his side.

"Cause you're the nicest person I know."

"Hey, where's your resumes?" Mike looked at Axl, "How do you expect to get interviews?"

"I'm in an interview right now with the guy from the theater." Axl said, "You wanna see a picture of his dog puking?"

Mike sighed while Laynee leaned in and peered at Axl's screen before laughing.

"My interview's going great." Axl laughed, "How do you spell 'scrotum'?"

~8~

"No funnel cake? No rides? Ah, this fair sucks." Axl groaned as he looked around at the booths, "Let's just get our jobs and get out of here."

Stopping in front of a booth Mike turned to Axl and a distracted Delaeney,

"Axl, this is what you gotta do to get a job here. Now, watch and learn."

Delaeney looked around. This place basically screamed boring and lame. Mike was talking to some business man, Axl was, oddly enough, standing patiently behind him, and Laynee was trying to decide how much she really loved Axl to have come here and done this with him. It was a waste of time and before she knew it she was walking with them back to the car.

~8~

Delaeney rested her head on Axl's chest as the two of them watched TV.

"Axl." She heard Mike call and Axl groaned and got up.

As soon as he came back and sat down, she leaned her head back against his chest and he wrapped his arm around her waist. A few minutes had passed before Mike yelled Axl's name again. Axl groaned again and left and once he came back, the two resumed the previous position. The third time Mike called for Axl, Axl was in a compromised position and he didn't want to get up. Delaeney had fallen asleep against his chest and she looked so peaceful that he didn't want to move and wake her. Groaning softly, Axl slowly maneuvered his way out from underneath her and once he was sure that she was still sleeping, he walked back to his dad.

"I got an interview." Mike said and Axl leaned against the door.

"Sweet. Can I go now?"

Mike nodded and Axl quickly walked back into the living room.

He carefully sat down, as he was not trying to wake Laynee, and once he was comfortable, he gently pulled Laynee back against him so that her head was once again resting on his chest and his arm was around her waist.

As Frankie walked into the kitchen, she couldn't help but notice the cute sight and silently awed. It was now only a matter of time before Axl and Laynee would get together. Now all she had to do was wait, no matter how painful it was.

~8~

 _So Mike picked himself up and got right back into the game._

 _Besides, we weren't that worried that he didn't have a job yet._

 _Because I had two._


	14. The Yelling

**I'M BACK BABY!**

* * *

The Yelling

 _Yep._

 _That's me trapped in an office supply at four in the morning._

 _How'd I end up here?_

 _How does anyone end up anywhere they don't wanna be? Either drugs or kids._

~8~

"How do I look?" Sue asked Delaeney and Axl as she twirled a baton in her hand.

"I can take it," She said once she saw the look on Axl's face, "I need some constructive criticism. Tryouts are on Thursday."

"You know what would impress the judges? If you lit the ends on fire. Just like they do in Hawaii." Axl pointed out.

"This is a serious sport, Axl." Sue chided, "They don't just let anyone wear the white patent-leather boots."

"If you want so constructive criticism," Laynee began as she took a step to the side and Sue looked at her, "Maybe…. You should learn to twirl it the right way."

Sue nodded her head and pulled the baton backwards, only for it to slip out of her grasp and hit the vase in the living room.

"Oh, man, that would have been so much cooler on fire." Axl whined as he went into the kitchen and Laynee quickly followed.

Pulling out some toast, Laynee sat down next to Brick and waited for Axl to finish getting ready.

"Axl," Frankie called and Laynee looked up, "You're coming straight home after school to work on your Aztec report."

"Chill. I'm on it."

"Oh, are you?" Frankie exclaimed, "Twelve to fifteen pages, double spaced. No fewer than six color charts or graphs bound in Oxford ReadyClip clear-font report cover. Mr. Gottlieb is tough. He's not gonna pass you so you can play basketball."

"Yeah, I know." Axl took a swig from the milk carton, "Parents need to talk to him. He's got no school spirit."

Frankie sighed,

"Axl, this is forty percent of your grade. You do get that that's almost half, right?"

"The paper's not due for a week." Axl explained, "You treat me like a kid; I'm practically an adult."

"In a way?" Frankie laughed, "You don't make your food, buy your clothes. You don't' remember to flush the toilet unless I remind you."

"I'm almost old enough to go to war." Axl grumbled.

"Not if we wanna win."

"Oh!" Delaeney yelled, "Burn!"

"What about you, Laynee. Have you gotten any of your report done?" Frankie asked.

Delaeney nodded,

"I finished it last night."

"Great! Maybe you can help Axl with his."

"Dad, how do you live with her?" Axl complained.

"By doing what she says. You will do the same."

"Ugh, you are so annoying. You live to make me miserable."

~8~

 _And then I got an idea. A brilliant, glorious idea._

 _I would film my kids and show them what they sounded like._

 _And once I started, I couldn't stop._

 _This thing was power._

 _The weird thing was, though, that Laynee never commenced a hissy fit._

"Delaeney can you take out the trash?" Frankie asked as she slowly snuck her phone out.

"Sure."

Frankie quickly shut her phone and watched as Delaeney grabbed the trash and headed outside.

 _Every time I thought I caught her, I didn't._

 _Anyway, after several days of collecting evidence, it was time to show._

 _I wasn't doing this for myself._

 _I was doing this for moms through the ages who's had enough._

"Kids can you come in here?" Frankie called softly, "Come on, everybody. Come on it. Sit down. Okay. We are gonna watch some educational television."

Delaeney looked at Axl in confusion and he shrugged.

"Now, there's been some bad behavior going on with most of you. I think it's time I brought your attention to it and I must warn you, what you are about to see is not pretty."

Delaeney leaned into Axl's side as Frankie started whatever they were watching.

"Wait," Laynee frowned, "Why did you record Axl?"

"Yeah. Why did you record me?"

Delaeney watched as Frankie fumbled around and showed continuous short videos of her yelling at Brick, Sue, and Axl but there was never one of her. She mentally shrugged.

"What's the purpose of this?" Delaeney whispered to Axl and he shrugged.

Delaeney raised her eyebrows and turned back to the TV, not noticing Axl's red face.

~8~

"Okay, Axl." Delaeney said as she sat next to him at the kitchen table, "What do you need help with?"

"Yeah, okay, um… who were the Aztecs?" Axl asked as he twirled his pencil.

"Axl," Delaeney groaned, "Could you have at least made an effort to try and find out who the people in your topic were?"

"That's why I have you." Axl pointed out.

"My topic was the Mayans."

 _And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, the best and most amazing thing of all._

 _Axl was writing his history paper._

 _And Laynee was helping him._

~8~

Hearing the door slam, Delaeney scratched her head and raced down the stairs to see Frankie holding a baby.

"Baby?!" Delaeney squealed as she whisked the baby away from Frankie and cuddled him to her chest.

"Axl," She heard Frankie say but she ignored her and continued to coddle the baby.

"Who's the cutest baby in the world? You are. You are!" She cooed, not noticing how Axl blatantly stared at her, ignoring Frankie.

"I cannot believe how irresponsible you are," Frankie said through clenched teeth, "Watch Laynee watch the baby and learn some responsibility."

As Frankie stormed out of the house, Axl made eye contact with the baby and flinched as a shrill cry sounded through the house.

"Axl! What did you do?"

"I only looked at it!"

~8~

Delaeney stood next to Axl as she held the little baby in her arms. They had finally found Frankie stuck in a store and they were watching her storm around it.

Delaeney tilted her head, she appeared to be… screaming?

"What's she saying?" Axl asked as Laynee shifted the baby in her arms.

"I don't know." Mike nodded, "Just bow your heads and look ashamed. Now nod; nod like we know what she's saying."


	15. The Kiss

The Kiss

 _When Delaeney's parents left her at our house, I decided that she was going to be one of my own._

 _So that's how we raised her._

 _We didn't give her any special treatement._

 _But she knew that she wasn't a Heck by blood._

 _But hopefully by marriage in the future._

 _Axl first met Laynee when he was one-years-old and she was six-months-old._

"Oh my GOSH!" A young woman cried as she watched the two babies, " Look at how he's trying to hold her hand!"

 _Yes, that's Delaeney's mother, Rebecca._

Frankie smiled widely as she watched Axl try and grab Delaeney's waving fist.

"Oh, Jacob, look at how cute this is." Rebecca cooed.

A young man looked up from his phone and leaned forward,

"Sorry, bud." He said as he gently untangled Axl's hand from Laynee's, "That is my baby girl."

Axl gave him a look of confusion before slowly jutting out his lower lip.

"Frankie, he is just too cute!" Rebecca squealed.

Now, Frankie didn't want to say that she envied Rebecca, but how did her body look so nice after recently giving birth? Axl was born six months before Delaeney and she was still trying to lose the baby fat.

"Thanks," Frankie smoothed down Axl's dark curls, "He gets it from me."

A high pitched giggle filled the air.

"You are too funny!" Rebecca laughed and Frankie forced a smile.

Looking down at Delaeney, Frankie noticed that she was a perfect combinaton of both her parents. She had a mixture of Rebecca's coppery-red and Jacob's brown hair, leaving it a cute auburn and when she opened her eyes, they were a stunning blue-green.

Frankie looked up to see Rebecca and Jacob immersed in their phones before looking back down and smiled.

Somehow Axl had made his way back to Laynee and had fallen asleep holding her hand.

~8~

 _It wasn't really a suprise when Rebecca and Jacob asked us to watch over Delaeney._

 _Mike and I saw it coming._

 _They were never really home to watch her._

 _The weirdest part was that Delaeney wasn't effected by it at all._

 _She just continued on with her life as if nothing had happened._

 _And the strangest thing happened two years after she came to live with us._

Frankie sipped at a glass of lemonade as she watched Delaeney and Axl play in the front yard.

"Now don't run into the street. I don't want you dying." Frankie said as she read the magazine infront of her, "Don't talk to strangers, don't eat anything on the ground, and, hey, are you listening to me?"

Slapping the magazine down, Frankie looked up, her mouth open, prepared to yell when her words got stuck in her throat.

Infront of her, Axl was handing Laynee a dandelion. She watched as Laynee graciously took it before leaning forward and planting a kiss smack dab on Axl's lips.

Frankie picked up her drink and looked in it,

"I need some vodka."

 _And ever since that day,_

 _I have been waiting for them to date and get married._

 _Plus I didn't want to lose the bet I made with Mike._

* * *

 **Did you think that in this chapter Axl and Laynee were gonna kiss in present time?**

 **Okay, this is my first attempt at writing my own storyline/episode thing. If you like it, let me know. If you want me another one like this, let me know.**

 **Thank you for all your reviews! They really mean a lot!**

 **Thank you Mrs. JosephMorgan for recommending that I do this. It was a neat experience!**

 **Last thing, I have planned out when the kiss is going to be. All I'm gonna say is that it is gonna be after Axl's first girlfriend. Which episode?**

 **Who knows? It's a secret :)**

 **Maybe see you on Sunday,**

 **Ana**


	16. Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day

 _Valentine's Day._

 _When couples take their special day to express their love for each other._

 _For couples with kids, Valentine's Day van be a different story._

 _And this year didn't hold the promise of being any different._

 _A few weeks ago, Brick's teacher suggested he join a group that helped kids like him learn better social skills._

 _I'm not sure how well it was working out._

Delaeney looked down at her phone and let out a giggle as she carefully walked down the stairs. A few weeks ago, Sean, Axl's teammate from football, began talking to her. She had been walking to the library to print out her report for her English class when he accidentally collided with her.

* _Flashback_ *

"Oh gosh, I am so sorry!" Sean exclaimed as he helped Laynee pick up the books that had fallen out of her arms.

"It's fine." Laynee quickly brushed back a piece of bang that had fallen out of her ponytail.

"No, it's not fine. I shouldn't have spaced out." He looked up at her and Laynee eyes widened as her cheeks turned a soft red.

No guy had ever really been this close to her before. Sure she had had two boyfriends, but the most they had done was hold hands. She was saving her first kiss for a worthy guy.

"Here," Sean held out his phone, "Put your number in. I would like to make this up to you."

Laynee gently grabbed his phone before she put in her number and gave it back to him.

"Bye," Laynee said as she pushed open the library door.

"Bye, Laynee."

* _End of flashback*_

"What's got you so smiley?" Frankie asked as Laynee sat down at the table.

"Nothing," Laynee denied, looking at her phone as soon as it buzzed.

Frankie nodded suspiciously and continued to make the lunches, making a mental note to ask Sue or Axl if they've noticed anything different about Laynee.

"Laynee, let's go." Axl called from the front door and Laynee jumped.

"Coming," Laynee responded, and she quickly sent her text before she raced to the door.

~8~

"So, what are you going to do about Kristen?" Delaeney asked Axl as she grabbed books out of her locker.

"Well, first, I'm gonna tell her that we're going to that burger place and she'll be a little disappointed. Then, I'll drive past the burger place to Red Lantern. She'll be like, 'What?' and I'll be like, 'Yeah'. We get to the table, a dozen red roses. Bam!" Axl exclaimed and Delaeney nodded.

"I'm sure Kristen will like it." Delaeney nodded as she closed her locker.

"Hey, Laynee." Sean said and Laynee quickly faced him.

"Oh, Sean, hi." Laynee nervously fidgeted with her hair, "What's up?"

"Hey, Sean." Axl narrowed his eyes, noticing Laynee's strange behavior.

"Axl, hey! I didn't notice you there." Sean smiled, "Anyway, I was wondering if I could talk to Laynee?"

"Yeah," Delaeney nodded as she pushed Axl away and he grunted in annoyance, "What do you want to talk about?"

~8~

"MOM!" Delaeney squealed as she raced through the front door and into the kitchen, "Mom!"

"What? What?" Frankie asked and she put down the dish she was drying.

"You will never believe what just happened."

"Well, what happened?" Frankie watched Delaeney bounce on the balls of her feet.

"I got asked out!" Frankie's mouth dropped.

"What?"

"Yeah," Delaeney nodded excitedly, "By Sean!"

"You mean, Axl's teammate Sean. Sean who has the two younger sisters." Frankie checked and Delaeney gave her a strange look, how many Sean's did she know and how many were her—as in Laynee's—age.

"Yeah."

Frankie paused for a moment before pulling her into a hug, "I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks." Delaeney smiled before racing off to her room.

 _Well, there goes my plan for getting Axl and Laynee together._

~8~

"Laynee," Laynee looked up to see Axl at her door, "Do you want to come to a Valentine's day get together with me?"

"Sure," Delaeney tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. Sean had just texted her, informing her that Axl had asked him if he wanted to come to a hangout with him and two other girls. Darren was also going to be there. Delaeney really liked how informative Sean was being about things. It had been a few days since they started dating, and whenever something would occur, he would let Laynee know about it. Her old boyfriends would go out with their friends and other girls and never tell her; which sucked.

"Cool, let's go."

~8~

Delaeney walked through the front door, holding hands with Sean. Axl's Valentine date-thing had been a major blow out. The girls they went with had left them for some college guys; overall, it was probably the shortest triple date she ever went on.

"Oh, guys, hide your eyes." Axl groaned as he saw his parents making out on the couch.

"Mr. Heck, Mrs. Heck, great to see you both. Hope you're having a fantastic Valentine's Day." Sean exclaimed as he went over and shook hands with them, making Laynee smile.

"Why are you guys here? What happened to your dates?" Frankie asked as she looked at the group.

"It's kind of hilarious, actually." Axl began, sitting in the couch, "So they met these college guys, but didn't even like them. The guys are taking them to a restaurant, then the girls are gonna call us after. These guys are stuck paying, then we get them for the good part."

Delaeney rolled her eyes in disgust as Darren nodded in agreement.

"All the reward with none of the expense," Darren sighed happily.

"Yeah, okay." Frankie got up, "You kids take care. We're going out."

"Oh, hey, Mom, before you go, could you make us something to eat?" Axl asked as he curled up on the couch, "Whatever's fast."

Delaeney gave a sigh and leaned into Sean's side as they waited for the girls to come.

~8~

"It's been three hours," Darren pointed out, "Text them again."

Delaeney was curled up in Sean's side as she peacefully slept and Axl gave a little pout before he shook his head.

"No, it's cool." Axl denied, "They're just playing hard to get."

"You can play hard to get too." Sean nodded as he wrapped his arm around Delaeney's waist, "You should stop texting them."

"But how are they gonna know we're playing hard to get if they're not trying to get us?" Darren asked and Axl nodded in agreement.

"Mm. We text them, tell them we're done texting, Darrin puts on a hockey mask, scares those college guys away. We beat up Darren. We're the heroes and the girls show us their appreciation." Axl planned as he looked at the TV.

"I love it, but how can we drive over there if we don't know where they are?" Darren pointed out.

"Damn, you're right." Axl frowned, "Well, someone remember that plan because that is too good not to use."

~8~

"Laynee, wake up." Axl shook Laynee, "Come on, we're leaving."

"What?" Laynee rubbed her eyes, "Why?"

"We were duped." Axl sighed, "We're going to Mom and Dad."

"Okay," Laynee got up at grabbed her coat, "Let's go."

~8~

"What are you doing here?" Mike asked as Delaeney, Axl, Darren, and Sean slide into the space next to him, "What happened to your women?"

"They were duped." Delaeney explained as she rested her head on Axl's shoulder.

"Besides, I'd rather spend Valentine's Day with the one woman who means more than anything." Axl said as he looked at Frankie.

"Oh, my God." Frankie cooed and Axl laughed,

"That was hilarious. Did you see how she bought that for a second?"

Delaeney rolled her eyes and reached over to grab one of Sue's fries.

 _Mike and I didn't get to spend Valentine's Day alone together after all.  
But that's okay.  
Because someday Axl will be off on a date. Hopefully with Laynee.  
And Sue will be kissing boys at a party.  
And Brick Well, Brick will probably be living in our basement.  
But the point is, someday we'll miss these Valentine's Days together.  
So I figured we should treasure every lame one we had left._

* * *

 **I cannot tell you how many times I spelled Sean's name wrong.**

 **I'm sorry this is so late.**

 **Thank you for all the reviews!**

 **Don't be afraid to review or PM me.**

 **See you soon,**

 **Ana**


	17. The Bee

_Americans have had a long love affair with their cars._

 _Road trips, tailgating, family vacations._

 _But these days, not so much._

Delaeney pulled at her braid as she made her way across the blue mat covered floor. Her coach was getting a bit extreme as the competition approached. Delaeney rolled her eyes, seeing all her friends doing tricks on the high beams and doing cartwheels and handstands on the floor as Coach Sheila inspected their every move.

"Gale!" She heard her Coach shout and she immediately straightened up and looked towards her, "You are again late!"

"Come on, Coach." Delaeney sighed, pulling at her braid again, "I'm not even a minute late yet."

"Do I look like I care. You are late and that's all that matters. Drop and give me twenty."

Delaeney let out a huff and she ungraciously dropped to the floor.

"Don't let her get to you." Mai said as she stretched her legs, "She made McMeen do fifty pushups for talking back." Leaning in close, she whispered, "I think she actually likes you."

Laynee panted out a laugh and looked at Mai, "Don't kid me. We all know McMeen had it coming. Besides, after she purposely walked out of a lesson, I'm not surprised that Coach didn't give her a harder punishment."

"True," Mai paused before her lips curled into a smirk, "On a different note, a little birdy told me that you were dating a special someone."

Delaeney blushed and turned her focus back to her pushups.

"Laynee," Mai whined, giving a pout, "Don't try to dodge the subject. I know about you and Sean. Spill the dets, girl."

"You know we're dating. What else is there to know?" Delaeney asked with a shrug and Mai gaped at her.

"Okay, did you guys kiss yet? What'd you do for Valentine's day? Oh! Did he get you anything for Valentine's day? You know, I always pictured you with Axl."

Delaeney rolled her eyes as she finished her pushups and sighed. Today was going to be a long day.

~8~

Checking to make sure that Sue was still sleeping, Delaeney carefully approached her bed.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUE!" Delaeney whispered-yelled as she jumped onto her sister's bed.

She barked a laugh as Sue gave a small scream and fell out of her bed.

"Laynee," She whined as she rubbed her head and sat up, "Thank you so much!"

"Here's your present," Delaeney handed Sue a medium sized box that was wrapped in paper that had dancing cats on it. She watched with a bright smile as Sue tore into the present.

"No way!" Sue gasped as she pulled out her present, "You got me new leg warmers!"

"Yeah," Delaeney laughed, "I remember how your old ones got ruined in the wash, so I bought you some new ones."

"Oh, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" Sue squealed as she launched herself at Delaeney and pulled her into a hug.

"Happy birthday, sis." Delaeney smiled, hugging her back.

~8~

Delaeney snuggled against Axl as she tried to drift back into sleep.

"Why did we have to get up so early?" Axl whined as he pulled Laynee closer to him, snuggling into her, "You interrupted my REM sleep. My body's clock is going to be off."

"The only clock that matters is mine and your brother's." Mike corrected, "We're on a schedule here. We need Brick rested and in the motel by five. He's got a big day tomorrow. Big weekend for him."

"And me." Sue added, practically glowing with excitement, "My clock matters."

"And Sue because it's her birthday weekend." Frankie nodded.

"Right, sorry. And Sue." Mike said as he focused his eyes on the road.

"I'm gonna get pictures from every fun thing we do for my birthday weekend and Mom's gonna help me make a scrapbook." Sue gloated as she looked around excitedly.

"Awesome. I'm gonna take pictures of every lame thing we do and then Mom can look to them for clues as to why I ran away." Axl said and Laynee tried to shift into a more comfortable position. Being squished in between Sue and Axl wasn't the greatest feeling in the world, but Axl made a pretty comfortable pillow.

Laynee closed her eyes as sleep claimed her before she was suddenly shaken awake.

"Laynee, wake up." She heard Axl say and she gave a groan trying to turn away from him.

"Fine. Be that way. I'll just climb over you."

Laynee let out an 'oomph' as she felt a heavy object fall onto her lap. Cracking her eye open, she lazily stared at Axl's face as Sue passed by him. She waited patiently for Sue to get into Axl's old spot and for Axl to take Sue's old spot. Once Axl was situated, Laynee leaned her head on his shoulder and fell back asleep.

~8~

Delaeney watched as Axl poked at his chicken pot pie and took a sip of her glass of water.

"This is gross." Axl complained as he stared at his food, "I think I'm eating a potpie from 1776."

"It's so lumpy." Delaeney added as she stared down at the pot pie.

"Well, I love my Ye Olde Cobb Salad." Frankie stated as she took a big mouthful of her salad.

"They don't have candle dipping or postcards," Sue sulked, "Now I'll have nothing to remember this place by."

"Cheer up, maybe you'll get hepatitis." Axl said and Delaeney gave him a nudge.

"Be nice. It's her birthday weekend."

"Oh, well, you guys are gonna love the next place on this birthday trip. I read in the AAA Trip Tiki that Indiana is home to the world's largest oak-tree stump. I bet no one has a postcard of that." Sue smiled.

"Why do you think that is, Sue?" Axl asked, as he gave her a 'really' look, "Why?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. We have to get to the motel, give Brick a bath, go over flashcards, and get him to bed." Mike stated as he looked at the kids in front of him, "No way we're gonna do that if we drive out of our way to look at some stump."

~8~

"I had the lowest expectations and I'm still disappointed." Axl stated as the family stood around the large stump.

 _So, Sue's little side trip had landed us in Chicago smack in the middle of rush hour._

Laynee ducked out of the way as Axl smacked Sue with a pillow

 _But three cranky hours later, we finally made it to the motel._

~8~

"Oh, my God!" Axl exclaimed as they stood in their motel room. "Sue should never be allowed to decide anything in our entire lives. This makes our house look nice."

"Axl," Frankie warned and Axl rolled his eyes.

"Uh, well, see, it's not so bad." Sue tried as she walked down the hall, "There's a TV. And the bathroom." Delaeney raised her eyebrow as Sue gave a scream, "There's poop in the toilet!"

Frankie rolled her eyes and gave a sigh, "All right, we'll just flush it.

Delaeney watched as Frankie stalked towards the toilet and heard the toilet flush.

"Mike, I need help. And towels!"

~8~

 _I read something somewhere about: "No matter how dark the night, the sun comes up and something something."_

 _Anyway, the sun came up and it sure didn't make the room look any better._

Delaeney gave a small yawn as she curled up into Axl's side as he gave a stretched. She gave a scream as Axl popped their mattress back into the right position and she dropped down onto the bed.

"I like donut holes."

"AXL!"

~8~

Delaeney sat on the edge of her seat as Brick approached the stage for his word. He did it. He made it to the finals; he was one of the last two remaining.

"Come on, Brick." She heard Axl cheer as he leaned forward in his seat.

Delaeney watched with eager eyes as Brick crushed each word, one-by-one.

"Chiaroscurist." The Judge announced and Laynee's jaw dropped.

"What?" She gasped, "That's a word?"

"No, no. Brick knows this. He studied this one." Mike stated as he watched the Brick intensely.

"Chiaroscurist," Brick began, "C-H-I-R-O-S-C-U-R-I-S-T. _T_ "

Delaeney's blinked as she heard the judge ring the bell, "Oh, I'm sorry. There's only one T."

"No, no, no." Delaeney rushed along with the rest of the Heck family as they raced to the Judges, "It's something he does. He knows the words."

Hearing a thud and a sharp ring, Laynee looked up to see Brick storm off the stage and the microphone on the ground.

~8~

"So, Brick, I guess you cared about the trophy after all," Mike pointed out as the Heck family sat in the car on their way home, "Guess you're more like your old man than you thought."

"I wasn't mad about not getting the trophy." Brick explained, "I just wanted to go to Washington, D.C. This trip has been so much fun and I really wanted to go on another one."

"You thought the trip was fun?" Frankie asked, shocked.

"Oh, yeah." Brick nodded, looking out the window, "Sue makes the best decisions. Where were we going on the way home?"

"Um, I don't know." Sue stated, "I think I'm done deciding. It's too much pressure."

"Oh, come on, Sue. It's your birthday." Mike said and Sue looked at hime.

"Really?" Sue smiled and Mike gave her a nod, "Okay. There's this place that has the world's biggest paint ball, and farther down the road is this Chinese restaurant that is shaped like a biscuit."

~8~

 _I can't say we fell in love with our car after that trip, but Brick was right._

 _It is all about the journey and not the trophy, which he didn't get, or the postcards, which Sue didn't get._

 _But what we did get were some pretty fun memories._

"I keep thinking about Axl and Laynee squished up in that ridiculous cot all night." Frankie stated as she stepped out of the car.

 _After all, it's the bad trips that you never forget._

"That was definitely pathetic." Sue agreed, "But not more pathetic than the world's stupidest stump. Why did I think that's be fun?"

* * *

 **Please don't kill me! I'm sorry this is so late. I dropped my computer, the screen cracked and the sound stopped working so I had to fix it and it took a while.**

 **NessieBooEvans: Happy Birthday! I'm sorry this is a day late, but I hope you had a wonderful birthday!**

 **Carrera: I'm glad you like them together!**

 **KristinaSmiley: I'm glad you like this story. The reason why the Boy Meets World story is updated more often is because I have already prewritten the episodes and all I have to do is edit them. However, I will be focusing on this story more and I am hoping that we will get to Season two by the beginning of September.**

 **Thank you all for reviewing and please let me know if I missed your review and didn't respond to it.**

 **Don't be afraid to review or PM me. I would love to hear your ideas for this story.**

 **Quick Question: When would you like Laynee and Axl (Laxl or Aylee) to start dating? Don't be afraid to voice your opinion.**

 **See you soon,**

 **Ana**


	18. The Breakup

_Out here in the middle, we have a proud history of lending a helping hand._

 _Chipping in and doing what we can for the common good._

 _We who don't have three kids._

 _That's why at our house, we have, what I like to call, My Sucker List._

 _Because only a sucker would answer a call from any of these people._

Delaeney looked down at the house phone and looked back up at the list, "Maria Janson, local bake sale."

"Let it ring," Frankie confirmed and Laynee gently placed the phone back down and grabbed a juice box from the fridge.

~8~

"But why do I have to help you with the snack bar?" Laynee whined as she helped Frankie arrange the different snacks on the table, itching to eat some of the Twizzlers.

"Because I said so," Frankie stated, placing a box of candy to her left, "Besides, what else could possibly be better than this? You get to watch Axl play."

Delaeney raised her eyebrow before she gave Frankie a pointed look, which Frankie blatantly ignored.

"Hey, you can't stack them that way!" A voice called, causing Delaeney's head to shoot up in confusion, "The new snack-bar supervisor has crazy high standards."

"Oh," Frankie quickly placed down the bags of cookies as the lady, Sally, made her way over.

Delaeney watched as Sally frantically began to reorganize the food that they had placed down and she gave Frankie a confused look.

"Oh, my gosh, here she comes. Look busy." Sally panicked and she began to rapidly replace every snack she had just reorganized.

"Morgan?" Laynee asked, raising her eyebrow as Morgan bounded over to the stand with a giant smile coating her face.

"Hey!" Morgan smiled before she faced Frankie and Sally, "Okay, Team Snack Bar. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Morgan." Frankie nodded, "I promised the Junior Achievers that I'd make this snack bar profitable, and that's going to happen!" Delaeney gave a weak smile as Morgan let out a high-pitched giggle, "Every dollar we earn is another step towards putting doors on the bathroom stalls. We can do this, right?"

"Right." Frankie and Sally responded while Delaeney just gave a nod.

"I can't hear you! Right?"

"Right!"

~8~

"I love watching my boyfriend warm up," Morgan sighed.

"Oh, which one is he?" Frankie asked, looking up from the snack bar and focusing her attention onto the field.

"Oh, there, the cute one with the dark hair. Number twenty-three."

Laynne gave a snort as she watched Axl rip off his sweat pants. Catching his eye as he looked over in their direction, she gave him a thumbs up and he smiled in return. Or he could have been smiling over at Morgan. Now, you might be thinking, 'Axl definitely told Laynee about Morgan." And the truth is, he didn't. Laynee didn't find out that he and Morgan were dating until about three weeks after it had happened. Yeah, Laynee wasn't really happy about that. She had told Axl about her dating Sean, so why didn't he tell her about him dating Morgan. Not only that, but Axl didn't hangout with her anymore. No, she didn't hate Morgan, she was actually happy that he had found a long-term girlfriend, but, Axl was still her closest friend and she did enjoy spending time with him. Even at home, he was all like, 'What rhymes with tenderly? I think I'm in love. Does Sean make you feel this way? I can't wait to go to school tomorrow so I can hold her in my arms again.' She didn't even act like that.

Looking up, Delaeney gave a groan of disgust as she watched Axl give Morgan a kiss and fake gagged.

~8~

"Six weeks. Her name's Morgan." Frankie rushed into the phone as she stared at Axl and Morgan, "Mike, our plans are ruined."

"Chill, Frankie, this could just be another fling."

Frankie sighed and nodded, "You're right. We've still got time. Anyway, I'm gonna snoop out some more information. You ask the dads if they know anything." Frankie paused, rethinking her words, "Who and I kidding? They won't. Oh, my God, Mike. Our little boy's in love."

~8~

Delaeney sleepily ate her cereal as she sat on the kitchen table next to Frankie and Mike.

"Hi, guys." She heard Morgan's cheerful voice and internally winced. It was too early to be so cheerful, "Oh, my gosh. He was so adorable when I woke him up."

"Yep, morning's his most adorable time of day." Mike said as he took a bite of one of the muffins.

Delaeney rolled her eyes and took a bite of her cereal, watching Axl follow Morgan out like a lovesick puppy.

"He was so adorable when I woke him up." Delaeney mimicked and Mike and Frankie gave each other a knowing look.

"You okay there, Laynee?" Mike asked and Laynee gave a sigh.

"Don't you guys find it odd that someone like her is going out with someone like him? The stars aren't aligning." Delaeney dramatically cried before she went back to eating her cereal.

 _It turns out that we weren't the only ones who saw something was wrong with the picture._

~8~

"Axl?" Laynee froze as she stared at Axl's form hugging Frankie's, "Frankie? Did someone die?"

Laynee raised her eyebrow as Frankie rapidly shook her head and Axl let out a sniffle.

"My heart." Axl whimpered and Laynee's eyes widened and she quickly looked at Frankie.

"No."

"Mmhmm."

"Axl, I'm so sorry."

"Hey, what's this?" Mike asked as he closed the door and looked at Axl and Frankie.

"Nothing." Axl lurched away from Frankie and wiped his eyes.

"Nothing."

"You break a leg or something?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Then why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying, okay? God." Delaeney gave a small yelp as Axl stormed out of the room and grabbed her wrist, dragging her up to his room.

~8~

Delaeney gently stroked Axl's hair as he slept curled up next to her. After dragging her to his room, Axl cried and tried to explain what happened. It was kind of hard to understand -due to the fact that he was bawling his eyes out- but from what she gathered, Morgan didn't think that he was focused enough due to the fact that he stared at a hologram dragon for an hour while she was researching. _What else was he supposed to do?_ Laynee thought, _I mean_ she _was the one who was researching. If she wanted him to be focused, she should have given him a task to do_.

Laynee sighed and carefully shook her head. The whole break-up reason sounded stupid.

Making sure that Axl was fast asleep, Laynee reached over and turned out the light, falling a sleep seconds after.

~8~

"Oh, my God," Axl exclaimed as he entered Laynee's room, "I just heard the weirdest thing."

Laynee looked up from her book, "Really?"

"Um… yeah. It was a tape of dad crying when he and mom broke up."

"How does she still have that tape?" Laynee asked.

"I don't know but he sounded like a real dork." Pausing, Axl gave Laynee a horrified look, "Did I sound like that?"

"Egh… not really."

"You're lying."

"You're emotionally unstable. I don't want you to cry again," Laynee teased and Axl gave her a playful show.

Laynee smiled happily as she watched a smile grace Axl's face.

~8~

Delaeney smiled at Sean as he passed her her bucker of popcorn. Yeah, she did feel bad about missing Axl's game, but it's not like he would even notice she wasn't there. She knew that he would be trying to get Morgan back.

"Are you sure you won't be scared?" Sean double checked as they made their way into the movie theater, "I mean, critics have been raving about how scary this movie is."

"Nah, let's do this!' Laynee cheered and Sean laughed, taking his spot on the couch next to her.

* * *

 **Guys, my computer actually broke :.(. However, here it is!**

 **Jealous Laynee? Does Axl notice?**

 **Thank you all so much for your reviews and I really appreciate every single one of them.**

 **So, here we are. Axl and Morgan broke up.**

 **I am still trying to decide when I should get Axl and Laynee together but a majority of the results are either around the same time he gets together with Devin, after he gets with Devin, or before he gets together with Devin.**

 **So here's what I'm gonna do.**

 **Let me know what you prefer and if it is before Axl meets Devin and you have an episode in mind, let me know.**

 **Please don't be shy and leave a review or PM me. I will gladly take any questions you have about this story, the plot, and the characters.**

 **Does anyone have a ship name in mind? If so, I would love to know.**

 **See you soon,**

 **Ana**


	19. The Fun House

_There are lots of famous houses known for the fun times going on inside: The Playboy Mansion, Animal House, wherever George Clooney is living._

 _In Orson, that house is the Donahue's._

 _Axl and Laynee were smitten with that house._

 _Axl because it had everything he wanted._

 _And Laynee because, well, her boyfriend lived there and it was a pretty awesome house._

~8~

"You're breaking up with me?" Laynee asked as she stared up into Sean's eyes.

"Yeah…" Sean said as he rubbed the back of his neck, "It's not you, it's me."

Laynee's jaw dropped and she scoffed, "Really. _It's not you, it's me_."

"Laynee, you're a really awesome person. I just don't feel the same." Sean tried to explain and Laynee nodded her head sarcastically.

"Oh, okay. So you just woke up one day after five months of dating and thought, 'Hmm, you know what? I actually really don't like Laynee that much'." Laynee challenged, crossing her arms and trying to keep her tears at bay.

"Look, can we still be friends?" Sean asked hopefully.

"Fine."

Sean winced as the door slammed in his face.

~8~

Laynee thought that they had been happy.

They never fought, she always laughed at his lame and stupid jokes, and he made it seem like he really liked her.

"Hey, Laynee, can you—" Frankie froze in her tracks, staring at the teary eyed girl, "Don't tell me."

"He broke up with me."

"Oh, Laynee." Frankie opened her arms and Delaeney rushed into them, "Don't worry; it's going to be okay. There's ice cream in the freezer and it's your favorite, Salted Caramel."

Laynee gave a nodded as Frankie soothing rubbed her back.

 _I wonder what Axl's gonna do when he finds out about this._

~8~

"Wait, so he, like, dumped you?" Axl asked and Delaeney glared at him.

"Wait, so Morgan, like, dumped you?" Delaeney mimicked and Axl glared at her, "Say something useful."

"OMG Laynee, I can't believe he dumped you. You are, like, so pretty. I don't understand why he would do that." Axl said in a high-pitched voice and Laynee gave a laugh, "He must be, like, so stupid."

Laynee smiled at Axl and gave him a light punch to his shoulder, "Thanks."

A moment of silence passed between the two before Laynee spoke up,

"Do you think you can beat him up for me."

"I would, but the thing is, I really like his house."

"Ah, good point. He does have an awesome house."

~8~

"You got a pool table?" Laynee asked Mike, standing next to Axl as they stood in the basement.

"Yep. And I got that weird smell out of the mini-fridge too."

"Whoa." Axl awed as he looked around, "I can't believe how awesome you guys are."

"Well, it's the shock in your voice that makes it all worthwhile." Mike stated and Frankie hugged his arm.

"You're awesome, honey."

Laynee walked with Axl and Sue as they checked out the pool sticks.

"Who has the cool house now?" Mike asked with a smirk.

"Uh, Brick, why are you licking the chalk?" Laynee asked, worried.

"I'll never eat white chalk again."

~8~

Laynee sat at the island, watching Mike place some food in the microwave.

It had been a few days since Sean broke up with her and, honestly, she felt fine.

Maybe she really hadn't been as attracted to him as she thought. And now that she thought of it, she didn't even acknowledge his existence until he had accidentally knocked into her.

He wasn't even _that_ attractive.

"Mr. Heck. Outstanding job on the pool table." Sean congratulated as he walked up the stairs with Axl, who shifted uncomfortably at his side, "On behalf of the neighborhood, thank you."

"You're welcome. Glad you're having fun." Mike said as he looked at the two boys.

"Yeah. We're out of bean dip." Axl stated.

"One step ahead of you. Made a snack run yesterday." Mike tossed Axl the bean dip.

"Excellent foresight and planning, Mr. Heck. A1." Sean congratulated.

Delaeney suppressed a groan as she watched Sean. He always did that. Congratulated people over stupid things.

"Why don't you join them?" Mike asked as Axl and Sean went back downstairs.

"Because I have better things to do." Laynee stated as she ate a chip.

"Like what?"

"Eating."

~8~

"Can you believe that dad told Brad to date Carly?" Sue raged as she paced her room.

"Really? I didn't think he would date Carly." Delaeney stated absentmindedly as she flipped through a magazine.

"How could he do this to me? He's _my_ dad! He should be telling Brad to go out with me."

"Definitely."

"And they're going to the Pie House and having their own booth!"

"That's crazy."

"I know! Can you belie- are you even listening to me?!"

"Definitely."

"Laynee! This is serious!"

"Of course it is."

"Laynee!"

~8~

"So, uh, why did you break up with Laynee?" Axl 'casually' asked Sean as they played a game of pool.

"I just wasn't feeling it, man. I mean, she's great and all, but, I guess that I didn't want to date her if I didn't feel anything for her."

"Oh, I get it." He really didn't.

"So we good?" Sean asked as he lined up his pool stick.

"Of course." They really weren't.

~8~

 _Why are there so many people in this house?_ Delaeney internally groaned as she made her way into the kitchen.

"Hey, babe. Wanna go-"

"Not interested." Laynee stated, grabbing a soda and heading back into her room.

 _Having the fun house sucks,_ she thought, quickly closing her door.

~8~

 _So after that, we went back to being the house across the street from the fun house._

 _We still got to see Axl a couple of times a week and that was plenty._

 _Laynee even went over too._

 _She claimed that she was good with Sean but, we all knew the truth._

 _And we still managed to get a lot of use out of that pool table._

* * *

 **I'm not as happy with this chapter as I normally would be.**

 **So Laynee and Sean broke up.**

 **Oh well.**

 **That means that now Laxl has a chance.**

 **Yay!**

 **Thank you for all the reviews!**

 **Please don't be afraid to review or PM me.**

 **Please let me know if I missed your review and didn't respond to it.**

 **See you soon,**

 **Ana**


	20. TV or Not TV

_It's a great American tradition to believe that anything's possible._

 _I don't know if it's the game shows we were raised on or what, but secretly, we think we're just one spin of the wheel or one roll of the dice away from being a big winner._

 _That kind of crazy, delusional thinking is practically bred into us._

"I'm at the mall in front of Hot Dogs USA and this woman comes and tells me that I have what it takes to be a model." Sue shrieked as she stood in front of the Heck family.

Delaeney flinched at the large noise and snuggled closer to Axl, leaning in closer when he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. It had been a while since she had broken up with Sean and, to be honest, she was perfectly fine. There had been an incident early in the month where Frankie's uncle had die and there was this big fiasco with Mike going to a football game and Sue impersonating Frankie to help Brick. However, Delaeney tried to help out the best she could. Anyway, Delaeney rolled her eyes as she felt Axl take a deep breath and knew what was coming next.

"Wanna take this or should I jump in?"

"Axl!" Frankie hissed before turning and smiling at Sue, "A model? That's great." In Delaeney's opinion, that sounded very rehearsed.

"I know," Sue gasped, "And she said she or one of her associates could train me to be a model and even get me glossy headshots all for five-hundred dollars."

Delaeney picked her head off of Axl's chest and gave Sue a look once she heard five-hundred dollars. Sue knew that their family wasn't as well off as others and five-hundred dollars was a lot of money to be spending on this modeling business that could end up being a big fake.

"Okay, look," Sue rushed, basically reading everybody's mind, "I know what you are thinking, but I've seen pictures of supermodels when they were my age and they're not that great." Sue face split into a smile as she recalled the memory from earlier today, "She said I have it."

"Sure, if by 'it' you mean no chance of ever in a million years even if everybody else were dead." Axl snipped and Sue looked at Frankie, crushed.

"Mom."

"Mike."

"Delaeney."

Delaeney gave Axl a light flick on the forehead at the sound of her name.

"Honey, you totally have it." Frankie encouraged, causing Sue to smile, "But what we don't have is that kind of money."

"If I save enough babysitting, can I do it?"

"Sure."

 _At a buck-fifty an hour, I figured that was a bet worth taking._

Delaeney winced again as Sue gave another squeal before the room suddenly went dark.

"Dude, blackout." Axl stated as the family gave small screams of fear and surprise.

"Okay, everybody relax," Mike got up and headed towards the window, "Axl, get the flashlights." Axl gave a groan and Delaeney shifted off of him, her eyes following Mike's gaze to the other houses in the neighborhood, noticing that they still had their lights on. "Frankie, we paid the electric bill, didn't we?"

Frankie paused before throwing her hands up, this is an outrage. If your gonna shut off the power, do it at the top of the hour before I'm already hooked on _Conveyor Belt of Love._

Delaeney rolled her eyes.

~8~

Delaeney carefully wandered towards the kitchen table, seeing that there were plates set, a giant plate of grilled food (waffles, sausages, steaks, hamburgers, etc.), and that Mike was sitting down at the table.

"Why are we eating at the table?" Laynee asked, standing next to Axl with her hand loosely holding his.

"Oh, no." Sue's eyes widened, "Dad's dying."

"Nobody's dying." Frankie stated as she sat down, "We're just eating the stuff out of the fridge before it goes bad. Dad grilled the crap out of everything but I would still give it the sniff test." Frankie looked at the mountain of food.

Mike began handing out food and Laynee cautiously sat down.

"Now listen, your mom and I met with this financial advisor today and he says we're doing pretty good. We just gotta find ways to cut back." Mike explained, placing waffles and sausages on everyone's plate.

Axl raised his hand, "I vote we let Brick go. He's the weakest link. I say we leave him in the woods and walk away."

"Great suggestion but how about we buy less takeout food and I cook more?" Frankie pointed out and Laynee raised her eyebrows.

"I'll take my chances in the woods."

Mike fidgeted in his seat before turning and looking at Frankie, "Hey we gotta make tough choices here. I'm not saying it's gonna be easy. Like, I know that we love it but it's really expensive and we really don't need it so we're getting rid of cable."

All Hell broke loose.

"What!"

"NO!"

"Mom's cooking and no TV?"

"That's child abuse!"

"Oh my God."

"What if there's an emergency and we don't have TV to tell us what to do?" Brick panicked and Axl nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Yeah. It's a safety issue."

"What is wrong with my children? You're acting like this is the end of the world." Frankie exclaimed and everyone looked her dead in the eye.

"How's it not? Tell me how it's not." Delaeney questioned, feeling dead inside.

"Sorry, guys, but cables got to go." Mike stated with a shrug.

"And you know what? This might be a good thing. Because maybe you'll start developing interests beyond vegging on the couch." Frankie said and Delaeney felt tears fill her eyes.

Delaeney let out a sigh of relief as the lights turned back on.

"TV!" She gasped and she got up from the table and raced to the couch, Brick, Axl, and Sue not far behind her.

~8~

 _So we didn't have cable._

 _Not the end of the world._

 _We just went old school and broke out the rabbit ears._

 _Yeah, the whole digital-revolution thing screwed us pretty good._

 _But funny thin, the kids were handling no TV better than expected._

 _Sue was babysitting to raise money for her future modeling career._

 _Brick? Well, Brick was reading. Big surprise._

 _Axl finally had time to start a band._

"Let's rock. Two, three, four." Delaeney watched Axl cheer from her seat in Sean's garage. Yes, she had decided to help Axl with the band. It wasn't much work which was nice. All she did was sit and watch them play and side with Axl whenever he and his bandmates had an argument (like she was going to side with Sean).

"How come you're the one to get your name in the name?" Sean asked as he held his stare with Axl.

"Because your garage is filled with your sister's gymnastics equipment." Axl argued.

 _But the band never played._

 _Sue modeled._

 _Brick read._

 _Axl practiced._

 _Laynee played unfair empire._

 _Mike and I—_

 _~8~_

Delaeney stared at the TV in front of her.

After these past few weeks, her wish finally came true.

No more going to Axl's rehearsals.

No more having to see Sean.

And more TV.

"Mom, Dad. The quarry's open."

"We won! Big winners! Big winners!" Frankie screeched as she hugged Mike.

"What's going on?" Axl asked as he entered the family room to see his parents hugging.

"I just my job back." Mike smiled.

"We spun and we won."

 _See? It's not delusional._

 _In a country where this is possible, Sue could be a supermodel._

 _Axl could be a rock star._

 _Brick could be a great leader of men._

 _Delaeney could be an Olympic gymnast._

 _You just gotta believe and keep spinning because you never know._

* * *

 **School has officially started for me :(**

 **Anyway, thank you all for reviewing and reading this story!**

 **Please don't be afraid to review or PM me. I will try to get back to you ASAP.**

 **Please let me know if I didn't respond to your review or PM and I'll try my best to respond ASAP.**

 **ichbinnureinnutzer: I'm really glad you liked how Laynee handled her break up.**

 **Last but not least, do you guys have any recommendations of stories you would like me to write.**

 **Kittkatty has requested a 'Cheers' fanfiction and if anyone has one they'd like to request, I'm all ears.**

 **I'm thinking od writing a Zuko fanfiction, but what do you think.**

 **The story update schedule will be on my bio page.**

 **Thanks so much and see you soon,**

 **Ana**


	21. Worry Duty

_There are lots of ways you categorize people: age, politic, religion._

 _But when you get down to it there are really two basic types of people in the world: the non-worries and the worries._

Delaeney threw her backpack into the corner of the room and shuffled through all the papers on the kitchen table.

"I can't find it!" She muttered, pushing all the papers on to the floor, "Where's my homework? If I can't find it, I'm gonna fail all my classes and never get a job and die alone."

Axl rolled his eyes from his spot on the couch. God, she was being overdramatic.

~8~

 _The past few months had been a roller coaster of pain._

 _Axl's first love, Morgan, broke up with him leaving him heartbroken._

 _Just when he bounced back-_

"Morgan and I are back together!"

"She broke up with me."

"She loves me."

"She loves me too much."

"She's willing to take me back if I change. I think I can."

"She doesn't like the person I've become, so I totally broke up with her. No matter what anyone tells you, it was me, my decision.

 _And to be honest, I think it was finally starting to get to Delaeney._

Delaeney rolled her eyes as Axl walked in smiling because Morgan took him back.

"Congratulations."

Delaeney rolled her eyes as Axl walked in crying because Morgan had dumped him.

"Come on, I'll make you some hot coco."

~8~

"Hey, Laynee, is this your lip gloss?" Frankie asked Laynee as she saw her walk into her room.

"No." Laynee stated, taking the lip gloss and reading the type, "I only use chap stick. I don't really like lip gloss all that much; it gets gross."

Frankie looked at the lip gloss suspiciously as Delaeney handed it back to her and left. First a calculus book and now lip gloss. Something was going and here and so far, she didn't like it.

 _The calculus book, the lip gloss._

 _It was all starting to add up to one thing._

 _Either Axl had turned into a gay math whiz or Morgan was back._

~8~

Delaeney sat at the table with a pout.

She didn't want Morgan to come over for dinner. In fact, she didn't want Morgan to come over at all because Morgan was going to make Axl think that she loves him and then she's going to break his heart all over again.

"Delaeney, can you help Sue with the cups." Frankie asked as she placed out some napkins.

"No," Delaeney pouted, looking at the table. Yes, she was aggravated and yes, she didn't want Morgan to come over but she wanted Axl to be happy.

"Look, I know that you and Morgan don't get along very well vut I could still use some help with getting this dinner ready." Frankie stated quietly, leaning in so that Axl didn't hear her. No, Axl did not know that Laynee didn't like Morgan. For all he knew, they were great friends and that made him really happy. His girlfriend and best friend were getting along.

"Your mom invited Morgan over so we can all get to know her. It's not a big deal. Just a really bad idea" Mike explained to Axl as he placed the dinner plates around the table.

"Mike, don't be ridiculous." Frankie scolded, "It's a great idea."

Delaeney crossed her arms as she heard the doorbell ring and sunk further into her seat, wishing that she could be upstairs reading in her room or that Axl was never dating Morgan.

 _And I really believed it was gonna be great._

 _If Axl loved her, I could love her._

 _Simple as that._

"Hi," Morgan greeted as Frankie opened the door.

 _Oh, this is going to be hard._

~8~

"I don't know what kind you like, so I got regular and extra crispy." Frankie said as she placed the boxes of take-out chicken on the table.

"Wow, it's hard to decide." Morgan said as she looked between the two boxes.

"Sure, it can be hard to make a choice and stick with it. I get that." Delaeney stifled a laugh as Mike quickly elbowed Frankie in the side and Axl shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

 _Roasted_ , Laynee mentally thought as she grabbed a piece of extra crispy chicken and as if Axl knew what she was thinking, shot her a dirty look. Delaeney gave him a shrug as she bit into her chicken leg.

"Woah, Brick," Laynee gasped as he placed a chick on the table, "Where did you find that? Can I get one?"

"Look he imprinted on me." Brick stated, ignoring Delaeney and placing the chick on the floor so it could follow him around.

"Can I get one? Please?" Delaeney asked, her eyes following Brick and the baby chicken around the kitchen.

Noticing the tension in the air, Delaeney got up.

"I'm gonna go watch Brick." She gave everyone a quick smile before grabbing her food and racing towards the stairs, "Come on, Brick. Let's see if we can teach him some tricks."

"Okay." Brick trotted up the stairs after her, chick in hand.

~8~

"Their relationship doesn't mean anything. He's going to date a million girls. Some of them you'll hate more than Morgan."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better. Gosh, I wish he just went out with Laynee. Their relationship would be perfect. Heck, it already is perfect."

~8~

Delaeney laid on the grass at the picnic. She really didn't want to go but Frankie had forced her and had given her the mission of 'watching over Axl and Morgan'. Delaeney didn't trust Morgan either. Earlier that evening she had overheard Morgan degrading Axl after he had gotten a C on his calculus test and, honestly, that wasn't cool with Delaeney. If Axl tried his best that's all that mattered in her opinion.

Watching as Axl tried to say something in Mandarin, Delaeney frowned as she heard Morgan get mad at him.

"That's not how you say 'I love you' in Mandarin." Morgan scolded and Laynee could see Axl visibly deflate, "I told you, you have to study. You know I'm doing that semester in Hong Kong. I told you, if you wanna go to Hong Kong with me, you're gonna have to practice."

"Hey," Delaeney called as she walked over to them, "He at least he tried."

"Look, this doesn't concern you." Morgan shot back as she glared at Delaeney and Delaeney raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"Actually, this does concern me." Delaeney took a step towards Morgan so that she was standing slightly in front of Axl, "I don't appreciate you talking to my friend- my best friend- that way. So what if he messed up, so what if he needs to study, at least he _tried_ and that's better than not trying at all."

"I told you that this doesn't concern you. This is between me and Axl."

"And I told you that this does concern me."

 _Yeah, this time it wasn't in my head._

Delaeney watched as a bean bag smacked Morgan in the head causing her to fall back. Crouching down beside her, Delaeney waved her hand over Morgan's face.

"You okay?" She asked as Axl helped Morgan sit up, ignoring Frankie's apologies.

"I'm okay." Morgan said and Delaeney watched as Axl tried to help her up before Sue pushed through and dragged Morgan to the shade.

 _Yep, it was petty and beneath me and it didn't change anything but hey, losing control over your kids is a tough thing to accept as Brick was about to find out._

~8~

 _I slept surprisingly well that night I think because nature made it that only one parent can worry at a time._

 _Nature's smart that way._

 _And the truth is, we didn't have to worry about Morgan for long._

 _Axl continued to date the love of his life for three more weeks until Delaeney decided that she wanted to try something new with her hair._

"Hey." Delaeney greeted as she walked inside with her new shoulder-length, curled hair.

Frankie gave a knowing smile as she watched Axl's jaw drop.

* * *

 **Don't you just love how Delaeney stood up for Axl.**

 **The story update schedule is on my profile.**

 **I also created a new story.**

 **It's a Merlin one. So if you're interested, please go and check it out. Let me know what you think.**

 **Please don't be afraid to review or PM me.**

 **See you soon,**

 **Ana**

 _._


	22. Sneak Peeks

"Wait, what?!"

Axl groaned, "Don't make me repeat myself, this situation is already awkward enough."

"But you just said-"

"I know what I said!"

~8~

Delaeney stared down at the smile child in front of her. Giving a sigh, she caved into the little girl's wishes and followed her to the basement to play 'Pretty Pretty Princess' with her and Brick.

~8~

"I don't feel comfortable flirting with another girl."

"Aw, come on, Axl. It's just for fun."

"Yeah, but Laynee won't be happy if she found out I did this."

~8~

 _Dear Miss. Delaeney Emerson-Gale,_

 _We pleased to announce that you have been excepted into…._

~8~

Delaeney dropped a stack of letters onto the kitchen table startling Frankie.

"Delaeney, what's all this."

"Every college I got into."

"And?"

"So far, none of them are the same as Axl's."

~8~

"Maybe we should take a break…"

~8~

"Just because you made-out with one girl doesn't make you the King of Making-out."

Brick narrowed his eyes at Axl, "Like you're better than me."

"Sure," Axl shrugged before grabbing Laynee by the waist as she walked past them and pulling her into a kiss.

* * *

 **It's been a while since I updated so I decided to give you a sneak peek of what's headed your way!**

 **I'm so excited for future episodes!**

 **Guest: I am planning to do all seven seasons. However, the website I use to watch the episodes is currently down so I am trying to find another way to watch them. If you know any good websites, please let me know!**

 **I'M SO HAPPY THAT WE REACHED 100 REVIEWS! THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

 **Please don't be afraid to PM or review!**

 **See you soon,**

 **Ana**


	23. Mother's Day

_Some days, from start to finish, just blow._

Delaeney's hair danced wildly around her shoulders as she jumped on Axl's.

"Come on, Axl, it's time to get up." She sang before dropping to her knees and shaking his shoulders roughly. Today was Mother's day for Pete's sake and Sue assigned her the role of waking Axl up… only because Delaeney was the only person who could wake Axl up.

"Stop," Axl groaned as he buried himself further under his sheets and blankets.

"Nope, wakey-wakey eggs and bakey." Delaeney pushed as she started to jump on his bed once more. After about five seconds on her juming, Axl decided that he had had enough and pushed her of the bed. Delaeney gave a groan as she hit the floor with a thud before ripping off Axl's covers.

"Come on, Axl. Get up!"

"No."

"Axl!"

Just as Delaeney was about to try and pull him out of bed, Sue's voice rang out, "Alex, get out here! Mom's food is getting cold."

"So? She feeds us cold food all the time. Know let me sleep." Axl shouted back and Laynee took his opportunity of weakness to grab his legs and pull him to the floor.

"Hey!"

"I lost my present!" Brick panicked and Laynee opened the door so she could see him.

"What is wrong with you?" Sue yelled, carefully balancing the breakfast she made, "You just had it."

"They don't really know." Brick responded as he continued to look for his present.

Once Laynee had found Brick's present, which had been under his bed, she knocked on Frankie's door before everyone entered.

"Happy Mother's Day!" They all cheered as Axl flipped the light switch on.

"Wow, what a surprise!" Frankie exclaimed as she sat up and made room for Sue to place her breakfast down, "Thanks. This looks yummy."

Delaeney felt Axl relax his head in the crook of her neck before groaning, "God, it's too early. You woke me up in the middle of my rem. Very dangerous time to wake someone up." Delaeney's body tensed as she watched Axl make his way towards Frankie's bed. "You could have killed me."

"No, Axl wai-" Delanaey tried to say as she watched Axl crash on Frankie's bed and knock over the tray with food on it.

"Axl!" Sue screamed as Frankie quickly picked the food up, "You're so stupid. You've ruined everything."

"Oh, yeah, it's all my fault. Blame everything one me. Classic." Axl complained before he buried his head into the pillow. Delaeney rolled her eyes at his behavior. He was also so dramatic when he was tired. _And when he was dating Morgan_ , Delaeney quickly shook her head at that thought. Morgan and Axl were over now. There was nothing to worry about.

"Hey, do I need to start banging some heads around here?" Mike asked as he walked out of the bathroom, toothbrush in hand.

"It's fine, Mike." Frankie said as she brushed off her shirt, "Really. Everything's fine. See." Frankie gave Mike a smile as she took a bite out of the slightly burnt waffle, "Fine."

Mike gave a shrug before turning and walking back into the bathroom and Brick decided to give Frankie the gift he made her, "I made you something, mom."

"Oh, a macaroni picture frame," Frankie cooed as she gently took the picture frame from Brick and admired it, "It's great, Brick. I love it. And a card from Sue and Laynee. You guys are spoiling me. It's gonna make it hard to go back to my normal life." Frankie applauded as she opened the card and Sue sat on the edge of her bed.

As Frankie read her card, Sue quickly reached over and slapped Axl's leg, effectively waking him up from his light snooze.

Looking around, Axl noticed that Frankie was reading a card and realized that he hadn't gotten her a gift.

"Oh, yeah, right. Uh, I'm going with a verbal card this year." Axl took a deep breath as Frankie looked at him before beginning, "Dear Mom, you're my mom. Pretty-cool mom. Chicks, stuff, your feeling, whatever. Love, Axl." Laynee gave him an unamused look as he fell back asleep.

"So, mom, what do you wanna do today?" Sue asked as she accidentally knocked over Frankie's tray again and Brick's picture fell.

"My frame!" Brick gasped and Frankie frantically grabbed it.

"It's fine, look it's all fine." Frankie said, shifting the tray in her lap so it was sitting up straight.

"Hey, I'm trying to sleep. Have some respect for other people, people." Axl yelled and Delaeney gave him a shove, listening to the thud as he landed on the floor, "Laynee!"

"All right, I'm gonna go watch some sports so you can have the day with your kids." Mike announced, ignoring Axl laying on the floor and Laynee's giggles, "It's your day."

 _See, that's where Mother's day and Father's day are different._

 _One Father's day, it really is his day._

 _My Mother's day was right on course._

 _I already had chocked down some runny, burnt waffles, and fried bologna._

 _Who would've thought old bologna would be the star of that show._

"Well, thank you for my wonderful Mother's day breakfast," Frankie thanked as she got out of bed and headed for the shower, "I can't wait to come out of the shower and open the rest of my presents."

"Take as long as you need, honey. It is your day." Mike called through the door before turning to the kids, "We have twenty minutes to go to the drug store and find a gift your mom will cherish for the rest of her life."

As Sue and Brick dispersed, Laynee reached her hand out towards Axl, which he gladly took and she yanked he up.

~8~

 _I could tell by the look in his eyes that Mike forgot to get me a gift._

 _So I decided to taking an extra long shower, giving them enough time to get me something nice._

Delaeney swung her and Axl's hands as they entered the drug store.

"Didn't we just do Valentine's day?" Mike exclaimed and the kids turned to look at him, confused. "This whole thing's a racket. They trump up these phony holiday's just so they can sell you a bunch of crap. If we had any guts, we would say no to this. That would be the best gift I could give your mom; to give you each a backbone." Delaeney and Axl shared a look before glancing back a Mike, "All right, let's fine that gift."

As Axl and Laynee made their way down one of the isles, Axl let out a groan.

"Ugh, got up too early. Must get sleep." Glancing to his side, Axl immediately smiled, "Yay, a chair."

Laynee watched, unamused, as Axl folded the chair out and laid down, closing his eyes. As she turned to leave, she felt Axl grab her arm before pulling her into his embrace. Deciding that she would get nowhere fighting him, Laynee relaxed into his embraced and slowly closed her eyes.

~8~

Delaeney lazily pushed Axl, who was relaxing in the wheelchair and sunglasses, towards Mike.

"Look, we got Mom a gift." Brick exclaimed as he held up some Comet.

Mike frowned as he looked at them, "What is wrong with you kids? You're not be serious. Your mom works hard and she deserves a nice gift that shows how much we care about her."

~8~

Laynee lazed on the couch as she watched Frankie sort through the shopping bag that contained her gifts. This year, they had truly gotten the worst gifts ever. Watching as Frankie grabbed the wrapping paper, Laynee rolled her eyes as Mike tried to make an excuse of why it wasn't wrapped.

"Who needs wrapping," Frankie smiled, "It takes longer to get to the present." Frankie grabbed the box and gave a fake gasp of excitement, "An inflatable foot bath," She glanced at Brick's face, "Wow."

"You're always saying how your feet hurt after standing all day. And, hey, you can take it anywhere. It's inflatable." Mike pointed out as he gave her a bright smile.

"It's got sluffing bumps to remove dead skin." Brick said with a bright smile, " _Sluffing bumps."_

Delaeney looked at Frankie's 'I'm-trying-not-to-show-my-disappoint' face and sighed. She totally had thought of better gifts to give her.

 _And this is what Mike got for Father's day._

 _Yep, a certified piece of IU user Jim._

"Wow, I can't believe you thought of this." Frankie said as she looked down at the box with a fake smile.

"Alright, I'm gonna leave you alone. It's your day." Mike smiled before leaving Frankie alone with the kids.

"I also picked up some glue so I can fix my pasta frame." Brick said with a smile.

~8~

"Hey, you're back." Mike exclaimed as he walked back into the house with Brick, Laynee, and Axl tailing him, "How was your mom's?"

"Okay. How was my Mother's day dinner?"

"Not bad. The waitress thought I was a widower."

"She kept giving us free shrimp balls." Brick said with a smile.

"So," Frankie began, "Where's my pie?"

"I'm going back. I'm going back right now." Mike stated as he turned around.

"Hey, can you grab us some more shrimp balls?" Axl asked as he grasped Laynee's hand, who nodded excitedly.

"Oh, forget it." Frankie sighed as she dropped her bag and headed upstairs.

~8~

 _Some days from start to finish just blow._

Delaeney slowly dragged her feet towards Frankie and Mike's room. She was tired and she just wanted to go to sleep.

"I'm tired." Laynee complained as she collapsed onto the bed next to Axl and closed her eyes.

 _Mike's right._

 _Mother's day is sort of a made up holiday._

 _It doesn't always live up to the height and that's what led me to create a new holiday._

 _One that's turned out to be one of my favorites_

 _The day after Mother's day._

 _Mother's day is for them, the day after Mother's day is for me._

 _It's kinda like Father's day for Mother's_

* * *

 **Here it is! Sorry it took so long.**

 **Thank you for all the reviews! They all make my day!**

 **Please don't be afraid to leave a review or to PM me.**

 **See you soon,**

 **Ana**


	24. Signals

_There are lots of different kinds of signals people use to convey valuable information to each other._

 _Some are subtle._

 _And some, not so much._

~8~

 _Yep, some signs are unmistakable._

 _Like those that signify the coming of spring._

 _When the teenage boy wakes from his long winter slumber and comes out of hibernation to forest for food._

"IT'S SPRING!" Delaeney groaned and rolled over in her bed as Axl's booming voice echoed throughout the house.

With a large stretch, Delaeney slowly got out of her bed and stared at her mirror. Ah, yes. It was spring. The best time of Delaeney's life. It was when the boys decided to shred their shirts and take a dip in her pool, allowing her to stare at their wonderful, chiseled chests. She smiled brightly and skipped down the stairs.

"When's the pool getting cleaned?" Delaeney asked as she sat down on the counter and grabbed some pretzels out of Axl's jar.

"It's not." Frankie responded, continuing to make whatever she was making, "If you want that pool cleaned, you're gonna have to clean it."

"What?"

"Yeah, so you better get to it."

With a frown, Delaeney grabbed Axl's hand and pulled him upstairs. The sooner they cleaned the pool, the better.

~8~

"Axl, this isn't going to work." Delaeney stated as she watched him try and clean the pool while standing on the rim.

"What are you talking about? This will work fine." Axl disagreed as he scooped the tadpoles and the algae out of the pool, "It has been working fine."

Delaeney rolled her eyes, annoyed. There was no way that anyone would be going swimming this weekend. It was too cold and the sun had barely been out.

"No, it doesn't." Delaeney gave a sigh before smirking, "See, I could walk up right behind you and accidentally give you a little push." She almost laughed when she saw him stiffen.

"No, you wouldn't."

"Yes, I would."

"Laynee, I swear if-" Axl fell into the green, slimy pool with a splash.

Laughing, Delaeney watched as Axl surfaced, shivering, with tadpoles in his hair and the algae covering his body. She couldn't believe that she had actually done that. Contrary to Laynee's laughing face, Axl stared at Laynee unamused. He was cold, covered in this green slime, and was pretty sure that something was wiggling in his hair.

"Laynee-" Axl lunged and grabbed the laughing girl, dragging her into the pool with him.

Delaeney shrieked in disgust as the cold water surrounded her and embraced her dry body.

"Axl!" Delaeney stood up, trying to brush off the tadpoles that covered her, but failed as Axl splashed her with water, "This is so gross," She couldn't help but laugh.

Delaeney heaved herself out of the pool and looked at her arms in disgust as algae covered her clothes and skin.

"Gosh, this is so gross. I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Not if I get there first!" Axl stated as he jumped out of the pool and ran to the front door.

"What? Axl!" Delaeney laughed as she chased him to the back door, fighting to get in first.

~8~

 _The Heck barbecue was in full swing._

 _Axl's right, it's the kickoff to the Orson bikini season and you just can't turn your back on that kind of tradition._

Delaeney rolled her eyes as she stood next to a shirtless Axl as he stood next to the pool waiting for all the girls. She knew that it was going to be too cold, hence why she decided to wear a pair of Axl's sweatpants and a grey long-sleeved shirt.

"God, what is going on?" Axl cried as he rubbed his hands together to try and get warm, "It's supposed to be spring. Where is global warming when you need it?"

Delaeney held in a laugh as a pair of girls ran passed Axl, who immediantly tried to get them into the pool, "Hey, come on in the pool, ladies. I'll hold your sweatshirts while you go in."

As the girls ran away, Axl turned to the two people he had managed to get into the pool. One who happened to be Laynee's ex-boyfriend. Delaeney cackled with joy as she watched hi shiver in the cold pool. She didn't understand how he could be so dumb.

"Dudes, make it look like it's more fun." Axl demanded and the two boys tried to splash around, while holding their shivering bodies.

Delaeney watched as Axl went off to try and get girls to go swim in the pool, and let's be real here, it wasn't going to happen. Deciding that she had had enough, Delaeney walked over to the food table, loaded her plate with Mac and Cheese, and headed over to Brick, engaging in a fun game of Go Fish.

Surprisingly, the sun soon came out and Delaeney shed her clothes off, leaving her in a dark purple bikini. Heading over to the pool, Delaeney slowed her paced and inconspicuously admired all the shirtless guys. And maybe she did admire Axl a little bit but she was never going to tell him that. Okay, maybe she admired his body a little more than a little bit, but it didn't matter. They were best friends and even if she wanted to change that she couldn't, he probably didn't feel the same way about her. Plus, she didn't want to make things awkward between the two of them,

~8~

Frankie smiled as she stared at the two awkward teens. One splashing around in the pool and the other dipping her feet in, both trying to keep their eyes from wandering to one another.

 _And I would never tell Delaeney, but I did catch her checking out Axl._

 _And I could say that he was doing the same to her._

 _Although they say that they loved to check out all the different guys or girls, one thing was for sure,_

 _The certainty did love to stare at each other._

* * *

 **Sorry this is so late.**

 **Anyway, Laynee's true feels have been revealed. She likes Axl but thinks he doesn't like her.**

 **Please go check out my new Outlander fanfiction.**

 **Feedback is always appreciated!**

 **See you soon,**

 **Ana**


	25. Average Rules

**IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT AT BOTTOM**

* * *

 _The end of the school year._

 _Finals, parent-teacher conferences, and that official teenage popularity meter: The yearbooks are out._

 _Every year it's the same._

 _Poor Sue had tried out for God knows how many things._

 _And she hadn't made a single one._

"Hey, Laynee," Axl said as he lazily leaned against her locker, "Did you get the yearbook?"

Every year, Axl and Laynee decided to share a yearbook instead of buying two separate ones. While Laynee didn't care about the yearbook, Axl loved looking through it and 'rating' the girls from hottest to ugliest. This year it was Laynee's turn to buy the yearbook.

"Yeah," Laynee shifted her bag and reached in, pulling out the thick, brown book, "Here ya go."

"Awesome," Axl said as he took the book from Laynee's grasp and started to flip through it, "Oh, look at her! She has food in her braces."

Laynee snorted and rolled her eyes before putting her arm through his and leading him towards the bus platform. Normally Axl would give her a ride to school but recently he had been taking rides from Sean and there was no way she was going to be riding in a car with him… even if Axl was there.

~8~

"We got the results of Delaeney's aptitude test." Mrs. Goldstein said and Frankie looked at her expectantly while Mike looked around the classroom, bored. They hadn't gone to Axl's teacher yet, so whatever Laynee got was probably going to make their day, "She did very well. She didn't test as academically gifted, but she was close."

"Really?" Frankie was shocked. Out of all her kids, she expected Brick and, at least, Delaeney to test out as academically gifted. Even though Sue got good grades, Laynee's grades were up there. Her lowest grade had to probably be a B-.

"Yes," Mrs. Goldstein hummed, "I, too, myself am a bit shocked, but I think that either way, Delaeney will be fine."

Frankie only nodded in agreement. Okay, maybe Laynee's was as good as she imagined she would be, but at least she was close to being gifted. Frankie sighed before getting up and heading to the classroom across the hall.

It was weird. Even though Laynee and Axl didn't have the same classes, they somehow always managed to stay close to one another.

~8~

Delaeney's ears perked at the sound of Axl screaming 'Ah! Stupid big brain' and tiled her head, confused. Why was Axl screaming? Shrugging, Delaeney turned back to her work and tried to finished solving the chemistry problem that was in front of her. She would've worked in the living room with Axl but he couldn't seem to stop talking and Axl's room was the quietest place in the house. It was the end of the hall, opposite from the stairs.

Axl's door swung open and Delaeney screamed, startled by the loud noise. She placed her hand of her racing heart before looking at an exhausted Axl.

"You scared the crap out of me." She scolded, before looking down at the same problem. She didn't understand why this was taking her so long. Normally she would've been done by now.

The bed creaked and Delaeney felt a pressure next to her.

"You didn't balance the problem right." She heard Axl say before he pulled the pencil out of her hand, "You need to make this a three and that a two."

He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"How did you know that? Just last week you were asking me for help." Delaeney asked as she stared at him in awe and confusion.

"I have a big brain." Axl didn't want to tell her that he really didn't need any help, he just wanted to sit next to her.

Delaeney's eyebrows rose and she stared at him in confusion, "Is this about whatever happened downstairs?"

Axl groaned before burying his face into his bed, "I got a ninty-eight percent on the aptitude test thingy and it turns out I'm smart." He turned his head so he could see her, "This sucks."

He smiled a little as Delaeney's laugh echoed through his room.

~8~

 _I was feeling pretty darn good._

 _The Heck family was on the right track._

 _Sue was practicing for cross-country._

 _Brick was slowly, but surely, finding his lost library books._

 _And Axl was studying in his room, with the help of Delaeney._

"Wanna hear something cool?" Axl asked and Laynee looked up from the book she was reading. Jane Austin, gotta love her work.

"Sure," Delaeney gently closed her book, but not before she placed her bookmark in, and turned to face Axl. He was holding his guitar and Delaeney noticed how he had plugged it into some speakers.

"If you wanna play your guitar without your parents knowing, you might not want to plug it in." Delaeney pointed out and Axl rolled his eyes, he could care less.

He had only been playing for a few seconds when Mike suddenly opened the door.

"What are you doing?"

"Just taking a break." Axl nervously looked at Delaeney and the textbooks next to her, "About to start up again."

Delaeney rolled her eyes, he was lying.

"Put the guitar down. You're supposed to be studying for your finals." Mike stated and Laynee gulped. He wasn't happy.

"I don't have any study skills." Axl complained, "Those are hard skills to learn at my age. Maybe if you had raised me better."

"No more excuses," Mike cut him off and Axl and Laynee shared a look, "Now that we know how smart you are, we're cracking down. Besides," Mike looked over at Laynee and her eyes widened. She was innocent, "You've got Laynee to help you study."

"If I'm so smart, then how come nothing's sticking in my brain?" Axl asked, as he looked at Mike, confused, "Seriously. I gave myself the practice test. I got a D."

Delaeney nodded her head in agreement, "It's true. Even with cheating, he still managed to fail."

Mike sighed before looking at Delaeney and then at Axl. Something wasn't adding up and he was going to figure it out.

"Were you guys really studying?" He asked and his answered was immediately confirmed at the panicked look in their eyes, "Yeah, so how bout you actually study and then how bout you take that practice test."

Leaving the two teens, Mike knew that they were going to study. Seeing how Laynee had cracked open a textbook and Axl's defeated face.

~8~

 _And they did._

 _Gotta had it to them._

 _Those two studied all night long._

A loud whirling rung through Delaeney's ears and she jumped. What was that? It was too early and someone was interrupting her beauty sleep. Not that it would help at all.

"What is that?" Axl cried as he sat up, a bag of chips stuck to his face, "Make it stop."

"Sorry." Sue turned off the blender, "Making a protein shake."

Delaeney groaned at looked at the clock behind her. It was five-thirty. What the heck (Delaeney mentally laughed at her pun) was she doing up. Delaeney scratched her head and quickly tied her hair up into a bun.

"It's five-thirty. Go to bed." Delaeney commanded as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She already felt as though she was drifting back off to sleep.

"I can't. I'm training." Sue smiled proudly as she poured herself the shake, "Trying to get a little extra practice in before school."

Delaeney groaned before laying her head back down onto the table. She wanted to sleep and she knew that she still had about an hour before she really had to get up. As she was just falling back asleep, Sue's voice caught her attention again.

"Oh, if anyone calls, can you tell them I'm out running because I'm on cross-country. And even though I'll be super busy with cross-country I'll call because they're friends. Even though I'll probably have a lot of new cross-country friends. They can come to my meets and we can go out for pizza after but it'll have to be near the cross-country track."

Delaeney gave a groan, "I'll just tell them that you're out running."

"Okay." Sue smiled before heading outside.

Axl yawned as he gave stretched, "All right, I'm gonna hit the showers."

As Axl got up, he froze when he heard Laynee's sleepy voice, "You did good, Axl." She yawned, "I hope you do well on your test."

A bright blush covered Axl's face and he quickly ran up the stairs, hoping that Delaeney didn't see his blushing face.

~8~

Delaeney tiredly watched as Sue raced around the track, well, more like crutched.

She was so aggravated.

She had spent all night helping Axl study and it was all for nothing!

She had chemistry homework to do and she still didn't know how Axl got that problem right if he wasn't a genius.

She grumbled as it started raining. Of course, it had to rain.

Trying to smile for Sue, she wrapped one of Sue's arms around her shoulders to help her stand. Glancing over at Axl, she couldn't help but smile. Even though he had made her stay up all night to help him study, he had tried and Delaeney couldn't be prouder…. Even if he did fail.

 _I know it may not seem like much to celebrate.  
The truth is maybe we are just average.  
But the way I see it families where parents get up every morning and go to jobs that are hard so they can get their kids through school and life and struggle to make it all work and manage to do it with dignity and a little humor well, that's not average that's extraordinary._

* * *

 **YOU GUYS ARE SO AWESOME AND I LOVE ALL OF YOU!**

 **This story has a HUNDRED follows, isn't that amazing!** **Thank you guys so much! This was the first story I had ever wrote and when I published this, I didn't think that it would get this far.**

 **You guys are so amazing and we finally made it to season two! I know, it took forever (my bad, hehe...)**

 **With winter break coming up, I'll have more time to update!**

 **Thank you guys so much!**

 **See you soon,**

 **Ana**

 **P.S. I published a Walking Dead fanfiction, so if you're interested, please check it out!** **It's Carl/OC and it starts in Season 1.**

 **THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH! I'M SO HAPPY!**


	26. Back to School

_Ahh, summer vacation._

 _Weekends at the lake, driving cross-country in a Winnebago, visiting Disneyland._

 _Yeah, well all that costs money._

 _This is how our summer went._

Brick slammed his head onto the counter, "I'm bored."

"I'm bored," Axl whined as he stared up at the fireworks, clutching Laynee's hand.

"We're bored," Frankie stared at the four whining kids in front of her, unamused.

"Kids, it's summer. Get up off the couch and go outside and play."

"Yeah. Nice." Axl complimented as Brick's arrow hit the side of the pool, creating a hole.

"Okay, get inside and watch TV."

 _But finally, we hit the most glorious day of summer._

 _The last one._

 _When the kids go back to school and you finally get some order back into your life._

~8~

"Axl, get up! We're gonna be late for the first day of school!" Laynee cried as she jumped on Axl's bed. This was not how she wanted to start her first day of her senior year. She had planned to wake up early, curl her hair (but just a little bit), wear the new light yellow summer dress that she had bought last week, and she wanted at least be ready for her first day of school.

Sadly, that wasn't what was going to happen.

"Axl! Get up!" Laynee jumped off Axl and grabbed the left side of his mattress, "Get up!" With all her might, Laynee pushed the mattress up, effectively getting Axl out of bed.

As Axl slowly got off the floor, Delaeney raced into her room and threw on her yellow dress. _At least I can wear my dress,_ Laynee thought as she yanked the brush through her hair before she clipped her bangs back. Grabbing her backpack, she made sure to stuff her gymnastics leotard in before racing back into Axl's room.

"Can you at least get dressed?" Laynee asked as she stared down at Axl who only groaned in response. Rolling her eyes, Delaeney rolled her eyes before she headed down the stairs, unaware that Axl had been checking her out. Axl raised his eyebrows as he watched Laynee leave his room; she looked good in yellow.

Laynee's eyes widened as she stared at the chaos in front of her. Frankie was racing around, Sue was panicking, Mike was going through the fridge, and Brick, well, Brick was just standing there. Sighing, she headed into the kitchen and immediately made her way to the fridge, grabbing a cheese stick, a water, and a yogurt. _I could always buy lunch at school_ , Delaeney tried to reason with herself as she checked her backpack, making sure that the money she left was still there, _Plus, I might have some money on my account._

"If I don't get my cross-country sweatshirt, no one will know that I'm on cross-country." Delaeney heard Sue panic and Delaeney lightly rolled her eyes. In her opinion, Sue worried way too much.

"You really want people to know that you're on a loser sport like cross-country." Delaeney looked over at Axl, unamused, as he voiced his opinion. Delaeney raised her eyebrows as Axl sneezed 'that sucks' before Sue began to complain.

"Shut up, Axl!" Sue screeched as she packed her bag, "Dad, did you just hear what Axl sneezed about cross-country?" She asked Mike, hoping that he would yell at Axl.

"We don't say shut up." Mike replied as he tossed her a yogurt, completely ignoring her question.

"Mom said shut up yesterday." Sue said and Delaeney rolled her eyes. Sue was finally, officially, in her teenage years and Delaeney was so not excited for all the drama that would come. To make it worse, she was on cross-country and the girls could be very dramatic. Plus, they all thought Axl was cute, which bothered Laynee (not like she was going to tell anyone).

"We don't tattle, either." Frankie said as she filled Brick's backpack with food. A loud honk caught everyone's attention and Frankie's eyes widened in panic, "That's the bus! Strap it on and go."

Brick cringed as he caught his backpack, "It's still wet!"

"There's school today?" Axl exclaimed and Delaeney gave him a look.

"No," Delaeney responded sarcastically as put her backpack on, "I just woke you up early saying we had school today for fun." She rolled her eyes and flicked Axl lightly on the forehead, "Of course we have school today."

"Okay, that's it. Everybody on the bus. Let's go, let's go, let's go." Mike said as he shoved Axl his bag and some clothes before herding his kids out the door, "Stay late if you have to."

Grabbing Axl's bag, Laynee looked at him as she headed towards the bus, "You should at least out a shirt on."

Laynee stumbled as she collided with Sue's body. Looking up, she watched as the bus drove off and sighed, at least they tried. Turning around, Laynee walked back to the door and watched as Brick knocked, waiting for the door to open.

"We missed the bus." Brick smiled and Frankie and Mike sighed before grabbing their keys.

"How many days until summer?" Frankie asked before walking out the door, Mike trailing behind her.

 _Well, the school year was off to an awesome start._

 _The kids were late to class and I was late to work._

~8~

Laynee stumbled sleepily as Axl dragged her downstairs with him, clutching his clock. He had nearly broke her door down trying to get into her room, but Sue had yelled at him to go away. Sadly, after Sue claimed that she had smelt bacon and left, Axl had taken that chance to go into her room and wake her up, claiming that his clock was possessed and Laynee just closed her eyes.

"There's a weird noise coming out of my clock! Make it stop!" Axl cried as he raced into the kitchen, Laynee bumping into him as he came to an abrupt stop. Yawning, she made her way over to the table and sat down, resting her head on her arms.

"Axl, relax." Frankie soothed as she plated some scrambled eggs, "I set your alarm last night so you would have time to get up and get ready with school without being rushed."

"Yeah, but that's why I have Laynee." Axl stated as he wacked his alarm with a wooden spoon and Laynee gave a thumb's up from her spot. Axl suddenly stopped wacking his alarm as he smelt the air around him, "Grandma?"

"No, Grandma's not here. I'm here. Now I want you all to sit down and listen up." Frankie walked over to the table where Laynee sat, carrying the eggs and bacon. "We're getting up on time, we're having a healthy breakfast, we'll start the day organized and armed for success."

"I knew it. Clearly these are not our parents." Axl said as he sat down next to Laynee, who slowly woke up as the smell of bacon got closer.

"If you make that case, I'm onboard." Mike said, "Sit."

"So, in order not to have a repeat of yesterday I have borrowed this chart from work. Now, for the purposes of this exercise, Brick, you'll be Mr. Ehlert, Axl, you be Pete, Sue's Lou, I'm me, Laynee's Barbara, and, Mike, you can be Bob." Frankie pointed to the chart behind her and Laynee squinted at the board, cursing herself for leaving her glasses upstairs.

"Do I have to be Bob?" Mike whined and Frankie gave him a look.

"Yes." She said before turning back to the board, "Lou, today you have cross-country practice so I have for you your signed forms and a check for your new cross-country sweatshirt." Frankie handed Sue her check. "Pete and Barbara, you have the food drive. Here's your canned corn." Delaeney stared suspiciously at Frankie as she took her canned corn from her, "Please put it in the bin and don't use it for fake vomit." Frankie gave Axl a look before turning to Brick. "Now, most exciting of all, Brick, I mean, Mr. Ehlert, I have for you a brand-new backpack."

"But I don't want a new backpack." Brick protested as he stared at the back-pack in front of him. "I love my old backpack."

"I know you loved your old backpack. But that thing practically walked to the garbage itself."

"But it was my friend. Who am I supposed to eat lunch with?"

"I don't know." Mike mumbled sarcastically, "A person."

 _Okay, so maybe my family was a little slow to make change._

 _But I was getting ahead of it._

 _I was baking brownies._

 _By the end of the day, I was already seeing the results._

"Thanks for the corn." Laynee said as she walked through the door, "My teacher was really happy."

Laynee quickly raced upstairs, she knew Axl was upset and cranky, especially since he had woken up early, and she didn't want to be there when he threw a 'temper-tantrum'. Sure enough, a few moments later Axl's voice was filling the house before it went quiet and Laynee's door was suddenly thrown open.

"I'm tired." Axl said before face-planting onto her bed.

"Then sleep." Laynee turned back to her homework.

~8~

For the past three days, Axl had been trying to wake Laynee up at two in the morning and she was sick of it! Why did Axl have to wake Laynee up? First he got her up so that she could watched the news with him at five in the morning, then he tried to wake her up at two in the morning so that they could have a picnic. It didn't make sense to her. Why did he want to have a picnic with her at two in the morning?

Laynee's eyes widened as she thought about it.

Maybe he was asking her on a date?

She silently laughed at the thought. If Axl wanted to date her, he would be more persistent and not just ask one time. He would probably ask her multiple times.

Laynee slumped in her seat as she watched her teacher write out a pre-calculus problem. Having a crush (maybe it was a crush, it could just be a phase) on your best friend sucked.

~8~

 _The truth is, once I gave up, it was a huge weight off my shoulders._

 _Life got back to normal._

 _Those other people, the ones we're always trying to be like maybe if they looked in our windows and saw how good we have it they might actually envy us._

* * *

 **Guest: I'm really glad you enjoy this story! I think the closes actress that matches Delaeney is Lily Collins with auburn hair (short or long) or Selena Gomez but you can imagine her anyway you want.**

 **Thank you so much for reading and please review.**

 **See you soon,**

 **Ana**


	27. Homecoming

_Out here in the middle, fall means a lot of things._

 _Crunchy leaves, hayrides, and, most importantly, homecoming._

 _It's the one day of the year the whole town stops watching football inside and starts watching that outside._

 _And this year, prom is to be extra special._

~8~

 _Gymnastics practiced killed today_ , Delaeney thought as she brushed a piece of sweaty bang from her face. She wasn't kidding when she said it killed. Since the season had just kicked off again, the coaches had the elite team running laps, practicing on the bars, doing back handsprings, front handsprings, chest stands, Laynee groaned as the list continued on.

Sure, she loved being on the elite gymnastics team, and she definitely loved winning the competitions, but it was now coming at a cost. Sue already knew what she was up to every other day after school and now Axl was becoming suspicious. She knew that he hated that they couldn't hangout as much as they used to and she often had to remind him that she lived in the same house of him, but that didn't seem to matter to him. Unbeknownst to her, Axl hated it when he had to drive or take the bus home alone. He enjoyed sitting next to her when they went on the bus and listening to her horrible- Axl actually enjoyed her music- taste of music.

Groaning, Delaeney pulled the housekey from her bag and unlocked the door, jumping when she heard Frankie's squeal of 'Axl, I'm so proud of you'. Delaeney frowned before placing her bag down and kicking it out of sight. She wasn't sure what Axl had done, but she definitely knew that he hadn't aced a test. Walking into the kitchen, Delaeney's jaw dropped as she stared at Axl's back and immediately began to panic, seeing the jersey that covered it.

She had completely and utterly forgotten that Axl was trying out for varsity today.

And she had promised him that she would be there.

Almost as if Axl could feel gaze, he turned around and his eyes immediately widened in concern. Wondering why he was looking at her like that, Delaeney quickly felt her face, wincing when she felt a cool substance underneath her nose. Of course, a nosebleed. Before either Frankie or Mike could see, Axl had grabbed Delaeney's arm and was dragging her upstairs and into his room.

"What happened to you?" Axl asked as he closed the door and stared down at Delaeney, who was pressing her hand to her nose in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

"Oh," Delaeney winced as Axl handed her a wet cloth to her and she carefully placed it under her nose. Panicing to come up with an excuse, Delaeney said the first thing that came to mind, "I got hit with a football."

"What?!" Delaeney winced as Axl looked at her, shocked and confused, "Why were you at the football fields?"

Pulling the cloth from under her nose, Delaeney checked to make sure that the bleeding had stopped, or at least slowed, before answering Axl, "I was trying to get to your tryouts." She looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes, "I'm sorry I missed them."

 _Truth is, I wasn't just happy for Axl._

 _You see, when your son's on varsity, you get to escort him onto the field for the big homecoming game and it makes all the other crap you go through worth while._

 _Cause no matter how smart-mouthy your kid is every other day of the year, for one shining moment you got everyone watching you wondering, 'what did she do right'._

 _And you're the only one who knows…_

 _Nothing._

 _Yep, mother-son moment with Axl were rare._

 _So, I was gonna enjoy this one._

~8~

 _At last, the big day arrived._

 _Homecoming was our Super Bowl._

 _Actually, the Super Bowl was our Super Bowl, but Homecoming was a close second._

Delaeney cheered loudly as the team walked across the track around the field. She was pumped and she was basically jumping from the adrenaline rush she was getting. Sure, she didn't really understand the concept of football, but that didn't mean she was going to miss Axl's big game.

"The yelling is hurting my ears." Delaeney heard Brick say and she gave a small nod before pulling out a pair of ear plugs that she had brought just for Brick, knowing that he was going to say that. She handed them to Brick and made sure that he put them in his pocket, even though she had brought an extra pair in case he lost them.

Just as she was about to sit down, she heard someone call her name. Delaeney looked around confusedly before her eyes landed on a cheerleader in the front that was waving her pom-poms. Saying 'excuse me' as she slowly exited the row she was in, Delaeney quickly raced down the steps and towards the cheer leader.

"Were you calling my name?" Delaeney asked, once she got close enough for the cheerleader to hear her.

The cheerleader, whose name was Jenny, nodded and smiled, "Yeah. I just wanted to let you know that Axl wants to see you before he plays."

"Okay," Delaeney nodded before she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Looking at Jenny, who was looking at Delaeney expectantly, Delaeney blanched, "You mean now?"

Jenny nodded with a smiled and pointed to the area next to the bleachers, saying that that's where Axl said he would be, before turning away and heading back towards the rest of her squad. Nervously tugging at her shirt, Delaeney made her way out of the bleachers and tried to go to the exact spot that Jenny had told her, but struggled. Being short in a crowd was not an easy thing. Delaeney gave a squeal as she felt something grab her arm and clutched her heart in relief once she saw that it was just Axl.

"Axl," Delaeney breathed as she closed her eyes and brushed her hair behind her ears, "You scared the crap out of me."

Axl just gave a nervous smile before clearing his throat, "Yeah. Uh, sorry about that." Delaeney cocked her head as Axl took a deep breath, "I was, uh, I was wondering if you'd maybe like to go out with me sometime?"

Delaeney felt her jaw drop and she blinked rapidly, trying to determine if this was real or not. She never imagined that Axl would actually ask her out. To be honest, she was expecting Axl to ask her for help to ask out another girl or something like that. But the fact that Axl asked her, well, she couldn't believe it.

"You want to go out with me?" Delaeney asked. To be honest, she was really scared that he was just joking with her; it wouldn't be the first time.

Axl nodded, "Yeah."

"Um," Delaeney felt a blush rise to her face, "Yeah. I would love to go out with you."

Delaeney watched as Axl's figure visibly relax before a giant smile took over his face. The two stood in an awkwardly comfortable silence.

"I should go."

"I should get back." The pair said at the same time before laughing. Delaeney gave Axl a small smile before turning around and heading towards the stand, not noticing that Axl hadn't left yet.

Yeah, he was definitely excited for this game.

~8~

Delaeney gasped and covered her mouth with her hand as Axl was tackled to the ground by the player from the opposing team. Her heart was racing and her eyes became glossy when Axl didn't make a move to get up.

"He's okay. He's just got the wind knocked out of him." Mike explained, noticing Frankie's and Delaeney's panicked faces. Looking over his shoulder, Mike frowned as he noticed that Frankie wasn't there, "Frankie?"

Mike and Delaeney both winced as they noticed Frankie running on field and Mike even shouted her name, but it seemed as though Frankie didn't see the problem. Pushing through the circle of players, Frankie bent down and shook Axl's chest, "Axl, Sweetie, are you okay?"

"Please tell me I'm dead. Please tell me that this is a dream and my girlfriend is the one checking on me." Axl said as he stared at Frankie's face, horrified that his Mom actually did this to him.

Delaeney cringed as she saw the furious look on Axl's face as he pulled Frankie off the field. This wasn't going to end well.

~8~

"Well, if you wanted to wait sixteen years for the perfect moment to completely destroy my life so I could never show my face outside this house again," Axl ripped his jacket off and grabbed Delaeney's arm, "Congratulations, Mom, it worked."

"Axl," Delaeney said as she tried to tug her arm out of his grip as he stormed to his room, "Calm down. This isn't the end of the world."

"Yes, it is, Laynee." Axl fumed as slammed the door to his room and jumped onto his bed, burying his face into his pillow.

"Don't you think that she may not have been trying to ruin your life?" Delaeney asked as she laid down on the bed next to him so that her face was close to his, "Like, she may have actually been concerned for you."

When Axl didn't respond, Delaeney sighed before lifting one of his arms, squeezing her head underneath it, and then burying her face into his shirt. Sighing, she felt her eyes drop and she blinked, trying to keep herself awake.

"Just let me know if you want to talk."

~8~

 _Guess that's the thing about being a mom._

 _You just have to start learning how to do it in private._

 _But that's okay._

 _In the end, it's not about those big, public moment._

 _It's the little moments._

 _The one's that sneak up on you._

 _Those are the ones you remember._

* * *

 **AHHH! *Dodges books that are thrown and hides behind a table* I'm sorry this is late. Finals have been this week and last week so I have been busy studying for them.**

 **But here it is! The awaited chapter! WHOOP WHOOP!**

 **I'm really glad that you are all enjoying this story!**

 **Guest: I will most likely do the perspectives of the actors and actress later on, but this has definitely been something that I have been contemplating on doing. I'm really glad that you recommended!**

 **Guest: Axl has already dated another girl (Morgan) but now he maybe be dating Delaeney. Finally!**

 **Please review and don't be afraid to ask any questions.**

 **See you soon,**

 **Ana**

 **P.S: Should I make an Attack on Titan Levi/ OC story? I think I might but I'm not sure.**


	28. Date

Delaeney stood awkwardly at the door as she waited for Axl to finish getting ready. Tonight was going to be their first date and Delaeney was nervous. Her palms were sweaty, her heart was racing, and her face was flushed. Nervously pulling at the light grey cardigan that covered her light blue dress, Delaeney took a few deep breaths before panicking as she heard Axl's footsteps on the stairs.

 _I'm acting ridiculous,_ Delaeney thought as she pulled at a piece of her hair, _This is just a date. I've gone on them before._ Which was true. Delaeney certainly had been on many dates, not as many as Axl had been on, but enough to know how to act on a date. This time felt different, though. Sure, she had been nervous on all those other dates but she's never been nervous to the point where she felt like she was going to throw up.

"Hey," Axl's voice startled Delaeney out of the daze she was in and she immediately took in his appearance. He was wearing his football jacket with a dark blue shirt underneath and a pair of dark blue jeans. His wasn't as wild as it usually was which meant that he had actually tried to tame it and he ever did that unless something was… important to him.

Delaeney blinked.

Did that mean that he was actually serious about this date?

"So… are you ready to go?" Axl scratched the back of his neck nervously as he stared at Delaeney. He wasn't going to lie, she looked… beautiful. Her hair was clipped back and she had decided to ditch her glasses for the night. She was wearing a light blue dress that ended just above her knees and a loose, light grey cardigan covered her shoulders.

Delaeney nodded, "Yeah."

"Cool."

The two headed out the door and headed towards 'Axl's' car. Climbing in the two sat in silence for a few minutes before Delaeney cleared her throat and turned to look at him.

"So, what are we doing tonight?" She asked and Axl scratched his nose.

"Well, I was thinking of heading out to the ice cream parlor downtown and then maybe walking around for a bit." His voice was wavering, reminding Delaeney of when he went through puberty and all the fun she had making fun of him when his voice cracked.

Delaeney blinked.

His voice normally wavered when he was nervous. Was he nervous about their date too?

"That sounds fun." Delaeney agreed and noted that his shoulders visibly relaxed after she said that.

"Cool." Axl said before he started the car. The ride to the ice cream parlor was mostly a silent one, which was unusual for the two teens. Normally, Delaeney would be singing along to whatever song was on the radio, even if she didn't know it, and Axl would ask her to stop cause she would be ruining a good song (but let's be real here, he loved hearing her sing no matter how bad she was).

Once they arrived at the parlor, Delaeney nearly squealed with joy when she saw that they were serving Reese's Pieces ice cream. Axl smiled softly as he watched her run ahead of him into the parlor to ask for a taste of the ice cream. When he finally entered the shop, he noticed how she was already asking one of the servers if she could have a taste.

"Hey," Delaeney said as she turned around to face him, "You should try this. It's delicious!"

After a few seconds of pleading, Delaeney finally managed to convince Axl to try the ice cream and if he were honest, he thought that it tasted pretty good, but nothing could beat triple chocolate brownie. In the end, Axl decided to give her a shrug, stating that he didn't like the ice cream, but it wasn't his favorite.

"I'll take a sugar cone with two scoops of Reese's Pieces, please." Delaeney asked before digging into the pockets of her cardigan for some money. Axl, noticing what she was doing, stopped her.

"Hey," He said, pulling out his wallet, "I got this. This is a date, remember?"

He didn't see the strange look on Delaeney's face as she watched him grab his wallet. _Okay, so maybe he is serious about this_ , Delaeney thought as she took her cone from the server and thanking her, _Maybe… maybe this is a date._ Delaeney happily ate her ice cream as she waited for Axl to get his, and once he paid, the two headed back outside.

"You know," Delaeney began as she licked at her ice cream cone and Axl turned to look at her, "It's the middle of November and we are eating ice cream." Looking at Axl, she smiled, "Maybe next time we should get some coffee."

Axl felt his heart flutter at the words Delaeney spoke. _So, this totally means that she wants to go on another date with me,_ he thought as he glanced at Delaeney from the corner of his eye. As astounding as it may sound, Axl was actually nervous about this date. There was no doubt that he's been on many dates before, but this one felt different.

Sure, when he dated Morgan he tried his best to do whatever he could to make her happy, and at one point totally change who he actually was, but with Delaeney he felt relaxed and he felt like he could be himself. That didn't stop him from being nervous, though. Currently, he felt like if he made a single mistake, Delaeney would move on from him.

"You can talk, you know?" Delaeney said, almost as though she was reading his mind, "It's not like I bite."

Axl laughed nervously before scratching the back of his neck, "So… uh, are you having fun?"

Axl cursed himself at his pathetic question and didn't notice how Delaeney's eyes lit up at the question. This date was way better than the ones she went on with Sean. To be honest, Sean was too polite and she constantly felt awkward every time he would, well, over exaggerate something.

"Yeah!" Her response shocked Axl and he immediately felt the weight of the world lift off his shoulders.

"Really?" He looked at her with wide eyes and she nodded happily as they took a left and headed towards the park.

"Mmhmm. Probably one of the best dates I've been on so far." Delaeney said and she finished her ice cream cone. A few seconds later, the two sat on the swings at the park and were both gently rocking back and forth on the.

"So," Delaeney gently tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, "Is this a real date or are you just joking with me, Axl?"

Axl couldn't believe what he was hearing and when he turned his head to look at Delaeney, he saw that she was looking down, almost afraid that he _was_ joking with her. Sure, when they were younger he had pretended to ask her out one dates and tell her that he liked her, but that was only because he got a kick out of her reaction. However, after the whole Morgan ordeal (and maybe before that), Axl began to realize that maybe… he kinda liked her more than a friend.

"Yeah!" Delaeney held back a laugh as Axl's voice went a pitch higher than normal, "Of course this is! Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, you know…" Delaeney leaned back on the swing, "You sure had fun teasing me when we were younger."

Axl laughed nervously before swallowing, not really knowing what to say. The blood-orange sky slowly settled into an ebony color as the sunset. The two teens had sat on the swings talking here and there, but they were mostly enjoying each other's company.

"We should head back now." Delaeney suddenly said and Axl nodded in agreement. Frankie and Mike were going to be pissed if they stayed out any later.

"Yeah."

The car ride back to the house was a one that held a much more comfortable aura. Delaeney was singing along to the songs that were playing on the radio and Axl was laughing when the notes went to high for her to sing nicely. Upon arriving at the house, the two sat in the car in silence.

"So, today was nice."

"I had a great time," The two said at the same time before laughing nervously.

"Well, we should head out." Delaeney slowly opened her car door and paused when Axl grabbed her arm.

"Yes?" Delaeney looked at him with wide eyes and he swallowed.

"Do you mind if I…" Delaeney noticed his eyes flicker towards her lip and she swallowed.

"Sure."

Delaeney froze when she felt Axl's hot breath on her lips and her heart was erratic in her chest. Slowly closing her eyes, Delaeney waited for Axl's lips to press against hers. She felt his lips slightly brushed hers and just as he was about to kiss her, Frankie opened the front door.

"Hey, it's a school night!" They both jumped apart as her voice rang through the empty night sky, "Get in here!"

Giving Axl a tight, disappointed smile, Delaeney was just about to turn her head away when Axl slammed his lips onto hers.

Frankie's gasp filled the silence.

"Mike! Get the camera!"

* * *

 **Not really much to say here except that they went on a date.**

 **ElenaDreams: I'm glad that my stories keep you wanting more. The Levi story is up if you want to read it, and your English is not horrible at all!**

 **ReadLikeHermione: I'm glad you liked the chapter!**

 **Nirvana14: Yeah! Haha, and they finally went on a date!**

 **Guest: Thank you! I hope you enjoyed the date!**

 **Guest (Morgan3456): Yeah! Took him long enough!**

 **Please don't be afraid to review! Any idea is appreciated!  
** **See you soon,**

 **Ana**

 **P.S. I posted a Levi/OC (Attack on Titan) story and a Benny/OC (The Sandlot) story. If you read them, tell me what you think!**

 **Hope you have an awesome week!**


	29. The Diaper Incident

_Out here in the middle, men live by an unspoken code._

 _You shake, not hug._

 _You never pay to have something done, you can do it yourself._

 _You don't go to the doctor unless… well, you don't go to the doctor._

It had been around a month since Axl and Delaeney had started dating, and she thought it had to be the best month she had ever had. So far, it had to be the best relationship she had ever been in. Axl would walk with her to her classroom, he would sit with her on the bus, he definitely would kiss her whenever he got a chance… basically the only thing that changed between the two of them was the fact that Axl would kiss her.

And let's be real here, he liked to kiss her… a lot.

Even her teammates had noticed a change in her attitude. Skipping into the locker room, Delaeney hummed happily as she shoved her bag into her locker and nearly screamed when she felt someone tap her shoulder.

"Sara…" Delaeney gasped as she placed her hand over her heart, "You scared the crap outta me."

Sarah only hummed as she looked Delaeney up and down, trying to find what was different about her. She certainly knew it was something… she just didn't know what. Delaeney's eyes seemed to hold a brighter sparkle in them, she was constantly smiling, and she seemed to have a glow around her. Sarah's eyes widened as memories flooded her head. She only knew one time when Delaeney acted like this and that was when she was dating Sean.

"Did you…" Sarah gave Delaeney a smirk, "Did you get a boyfriend."

A blush rose on Delaeney's cheeks and she quickly covered it with her hands. Well, she tried too.

"No," Delaeney denied, turning away so that Sarah couldn't see her blush and grabbed some tape from her locker.

"You so did." Sarah smiled before leaning in close to Delaeney, "Who is it? Did you get back with Sean? Is it a kid from school? Is it Axl?"

"Stop," Delaeney whined as she pushed Sarah's face back, "Leave me alone."

"You better tell me at some point."

~8~

"I'm home." Delaeney called as she shut the door behind her and threw her bag down. The sound of footsteps heading towards her caught her ear and Delaeney looked up, ready to see who it was, when a soft pair of lips connected with hers. A dark blush soon covered her face and Delaeney lightly pushed Axl away. It wasn't that she didn't like kissing him, because she did... a lot, it was just that she wasn't very used to public displays of affection or, more commonly known as, PDA. Delaeney tried to keep their PDA down to a minimum when they were out and around people, but Axl didn't care. Honestly, he loved kissing her, so he did it whenever and wherever he could. Even if that meant in front of his parents.

"Where were you?" Axl still didn't know about Delaeney's after school activities. Really, no one did except Sue and maybe Brick. It's not that Delaeney didn't want to tell them, it was just that they all already had so much on their plates and she didn't want to add another item on top of that. Besides, she had been doing this since she was a middle schooler, she knew how to sneak by them all.

"Oh," Delaeney looked down as she slipped off her shoes, "I had to help Carrie with her math homework."

Carrie was one of the cheerleaders and had to be one of the dumbest kids in her school, not that Delaeney told anyone she thought that. Delaeney understood that math could be difficult and challenging, but when you're a twelfth grader who still doesn't know how to multiply without using a calculator for simple numbers, it gets a little worrisome.

"Okay, well, I was wondering if you could help me with this huge project I'm doing." Axl asked her as the two made their way into the kitchen. Freezing, Delaeney looked at Sean in confusion before looking at Axl.

"Oh, yeah," Axl said before heading towards the fridge, "He's my partner."

Swallowing, Delaeney nodded. She knew that it was irrational of her to still be uncomfortable around Sean, especially when their breakup had been months ago. But now she was dating Axl, who was best friends with Sean, and she had dated Sean, who was best friends with Axl. Shaking her head slightly, Delaeney greeted Sean before grabbing some water. Coming up with an agreement with herself, Delaeney would no longer be uncomfortable around Sean, she's dating Axl now and she's happy. Her relationship with Sean was in the past and will stay in the past.

Leaning against the counter, Delaeney jumped a bit when she felt Axl wrap his arm around her waist, but quickly relaxed into his touch. She slightly snuggled into his side and smiled, she was very happy.

"Mom, you said you'd drive me to babysitting." Delaeney looked up to see Sue enter the kitchen, a frown painting her face and her Cross-Country sweatshirt on. She really hadn't lied when she said that she was going to wear it every day.

"She says a lot of things!" Brick shouted and Delaeney looked at Axl with a confused gaze, in which he returned with a shrug.

"Sean…" Sue drawled once she turned around and saw who was standing behind her. Delaeney stifled a giggle as she saw the look that crossed Axl's face. Now, Delaeney knew that Sue had a crush on Sean since the moment she saw the blush take over Sue's face when she saw Sean shirtless. And, even though she thought it was a little mean, Delaeney couldn't help but find Sue's flirting attempts hilarious.

 _If you have an older brother, you're eventually going to develop a crush on one of his friends._

 _For Sue, it happened this summer._

"I'm heading out, I can give you a lift on the way home." Sean stated and Delaeney bit her lip, trying not to smile as she noticed the blush that immediately coated Sue's cheeks.

As Sean led Sue out the door, a light giggle made its way out of Delaeney's mouth before she could stop it and she missed the soft smile Axl gave her before a look of disgust covered his face over the incidents that had just occurred.

"Well, we better get started on your project." Delaeney said as she placed her glass down and grabbed Axl's hand, pulling him towards the living room.

"We could, or we could go get some ice cream or see a movie." Axl challenged as he tried to change Delaeney's mind about doing homework.

"As tempting as that sounds, I don't want you failing school." Axl only groaned and allowed Delaeney to drag him towards the living room.

But, hey, what kind of girlfriend would Delaeney be if she let Axl slack.

~8~

Delaeney lounged on the couch as she did her math homework. Sean and Axl were on the couch next to her and were currently playing a video game as they did their homework. The slamming of the door caught Delaeney's attention and she gave Mike a quick smile before looking back down at her work.

"Axl, I thought you had a big school project." Mike stated as soon as Sean finished greeting him, "Stop wasting time and get to work."

Axl laughed, his eyes not leaving the screen, "For your information we are working. Our experiment is on the effects of video games on the teenage brain." Delaeney rolled her eyes, "First, we play thirty-six hours of _Road Rage_ and then we watch a ten-hour _Wipeout_ marathon and see how much we can remember. We even got a log."

"And your teacher signed off on this… experiment?" Mike asked, hesitating on what to call it.

"Oh, yeah. Coach is totally cool with it. Some other kids are studying the effects of music on coma patients." Axl let out a chuckle, "Losers!"

Delaeney rolled her eyes again. Once she had heard about the boys' project, she had tried to change their mind about it. She had offered if they wanted to accompany her to one of her babysitting gigs and help her watch three kids, all under the age of three, for eight hours. Of course, they said no.

"Hey, Professor," Mike tapped Axl's shoulder, "You got a little bean dip on your log."

Delaeney laughed as she watched Axl try to lick off the bean dip and continue to play the game at the same time.

"I'll get it," Sue said as the doorbell rang, pausing to look at Sean, "Hi, Sean."

Delaeney wasn't going to lie when she said that she felt bad for Sue. Sue had confided in her last night that she thought that Sean liked her back and, well, Delaeney knew that Sean didn't. How she knew, you may wonder. Well, because Sara had been telling that Sean had been walking with her to class and helping her with her books. He even bought lunch for her one day.

"Hey." Sue said shakily and Delaeney looked up at her with raised eyebrows.

"Getting a snack?" Sean said as he turned around to face Sue and Delaeney winced as Sue squealed before racing off to her room with Carly.

~8~

"Oh!" Axl cheered and Delaeney looked up at him from her book, "I just got the key to the machete cabinet. I love homework."

Deciding that she had been sitting for long enough, and that she was hungry, Delaeney placed her book down before getting up and stretching, sighing in relief as her shoulders and back cracked. Delaeney tried to walk as fast as she could past the TV, so that she didn't block the boys view, and entered the kitchen, squealing happily when she saw that there were still some Peanut Butter Patties left.

Skipping happily back into the living room, Delaeney happily plopped herself down on the recliner chair and began to eat her cookies. Sure, she shouldn't eat all the cookies that were in front of her, but, hey, no one ever said that she couldn't.

"God," Delaeney looked up to see Axl rubbing his forehead, "Now that video games are homework, they're not as much fun anymore."

"Yeah," Sean said as he placed his remote down, "I need to eat. I'm getting dizzy."

"Yeah," Axl agreed as he gently threw down his remote and stood up, "Yeah. Let's hit the drive throu. I want a hamburger and those… things."

"French fries?" Laynee guessed as she closed her book.

"No, but we should get those too. You coming?" Axl asked as he turned to look at her. Delaeney nodded and placed the rest of her cookies down before pulling her jacket on.

"I should write this down." Sean said and Axl nodded in agreement.

Grabbing Axl's hand, Delaeney turned to open the door when Sean suddenly spoke, "Hey, we're going out to get food. You wanna come?"

Turning back around, Delaeney noticed that Axl was rapidly shaking his head at Sue and Carly. That's when everything clicked. Delaeney noticed that Sue was wringing her hands nervosuly, Carly was standing behind her for moral support, and Sue looked very, _very_ dramatic.

"I want to, Sean." Sue said as she nodded dramatically, "I really do. But my life is way too complicated right now. I think I really just need to focus on Cross-Country," Delaeney cringed and buried her face into Axl's side, "And I hope you can understand that. The timing is just all wrong." Sue sadly laughed and Delaeney cringed harder, "Isn't that always the case. So, I guess what I'm saying is, I'm sorry, Sean, but I can't go with you."

"We'll bring you back some nuggets." Sean nodded, understandingly, "Later."

Delaeney nearly tore off the door as she tried to escape the most uncomfortable moments in her life. She did notice the look that Axl was giving Sue and she prayed that Axl wouldn't bring it up when they were out eating.

"Hey, Laynee." Delaeney turned to look at Sean, "Can you call Sara and ask if she wants to come?"

"Sure," Delaeney nodded, "Or we can just drive by her house."

Sean seemed to think that that was a better idea and the three of them got into the car, Sean and Axl in the front and Delaeney in the back. They drove in silence for a few seconds before Sean grabbed a white piece of paper from the dashboard.

"Hey, what's this?" Sean opened the paper, "Some kind of a poem. Feelings so strong, they can't be wrong." Delaeney's eyebrows rose as she heard the beginning and she looked at Axl, confused, "Like a butterfly and a dove riding on a rainbow of love."

 _Everyone needs a friend who will stop you when you are about to make a huge mistake._

 _Carly was not that friend._

Looking, into the rear-view mirror, Axl noticed that Delaeney was looking at him with raised eyebrows and a confused expression, and he panicked.

 _But Axl was._

"Oh, that's mine." Axl managed to say and Delaeney didn't know that she could even raise her eyebrows that high, "I, uh, was tooling around with some lyrics for a song, you know."

 _Axl saving Sue?_

 _I guess video games did addle his brain._

"You got your eyes with hearts?" Sean asked and Delaeney leaned in, ready to hear Axl's excuse.

"Those are butts." Axl said before smiling nervously. Sean seemed to find the answer acceptable and he gave Axl a high-five as he laughed. Quickly stopping his laughter, Axl's face turned back to confused and panicked as he looked in the rear-view mirror at Delaeney, who did not look impressed.

 _It actually turned out to be one of our best annivarsery's ever._

 _We laid in bed, ate pizza, and watched_ _When Harry Met Sally_ _._

 _And then a couple of days on a heating pad later._

 _I'm lying._

* * *

 **Poor Axl. He has some explaining to do, haha.**

 **Taffyrose: Thank you so much! I'm so glad that you could picture it as part of their show and I'm so glad Delaeney fits in with them so well. I always get nervous that I might make one (especially Axl) too OC like. But I'm really glad that you enjoyed it!**

 **ElenaDreams: Haha, I'll send you a copy of the photo when it arrives. I really liked writing Frankie's part! so I'm glad you liked it!**

 **Guest: I know! It took them long enough!**

 **Thank you for the reviews and please review!**

 **See you soon,**

 **Ana**


	30. The Quarry

_Teenagers here in the middle are just like teenagers around the world…_

 _They're stupid._

"Axl, I don't think this is a good idea." Delaeney said as she frantically looked around the small restaurant they were in. Somehow, Axl had managed to convince her to skip one day of school- she had early release anyways- and she her anxiety levels were off the charts. Millions of thoughts rapidly flew through her head. What if they got caught? Would she be suspended? Would this go on her permanent record?

"Chill, Laynee," Axl said before groaning as he rapidly hit the button to the side of him, "We're going to be fine."

"Hey, kid, you mind taking a break on that thing?" A deep, male voice called to the pair of them and Delaeney furrowed her brows. That voice sounded oddly familiar.

"Whatever," Axl sassed before freezing and looking at Laynee, who was looking at him with wide eyes.

 _They're so stupid, they'll even show up on a school day to the very place they know their dad eats lunch._

Turing around, Axl slung his arm around Delaeney's waist as the two looked at the familiar figure sitting in front of them.

"Axl? Delaeney?" Mike questioned as he stared at the two in front of him. He swore that they had to be at school right now.

"Hey." Axl breathed out, nervously.

"What are you two doing here?" Mike asked as he got up and walked over to the two of them, "You skipping school?"

"No," Axl denied as he pointed his finger at Mike, "For your information, I am not skipping school. I'm suspended."

"For what?"

"Skipping school." Axl frowned when Mike only sighed in response, "See, this is why I didn't want to tell you. I knew you'd be cool about it. God!"

~8~

Delaeney pouted as Mike led her and Axl through the front door. It wasn't fair. It wasn't like it was her idea to skip school. Axl had showed up during her free period and convinced her to leave; he said that he wanted to take her out on a date. Delaeney huffed as Axl started to explain what happened to Frankie.

"What about you, Laynee? What did you do?" Delaeney looked at Frankie, offended at her accusations.

"I didn't do anything!"

Glowering at the two-well, mainly just Axl, Mike stated, "Get out of my line of vision."

Huffing, Axl grabbed Delaeney's hand and pulled her up the stairs with him. Delaeney couldn't help but smile at the gesture. When they had first started dating, Axl's hands were always sweat because of his constant nervousness around here. He never told her, but he constantly feared that something would go wrong and she would realize that she didn't like him as much as he liked her.

Slamming the door to his room, Axl collapsed on his bed, dragging Delaeney down with him. Delaeney curled into his side as he placed his arm around her back and pulled her closer. It was nice, in Delaeney's opinion, that they were finally able to relax. They hadn't been able to see each other that much the past two weeks. Delaeney had been busy with gymnastics and Axl had been busy getting in trouble.

"God," Axl groaned, "This is so unfair."

"This is sort of your fault," Delaeney reminded as she stared into his blue eyes, "You know that you're not supposed to skip school."

"Oh, come on, Delaeney." Axl sighed as he closed his eyes, "Live a little."

"I like to live a life where I don't get in trouble."

"Huh, I guess I'll have to change that."

~8~

The past few weeks had been boring and uneventful for Delaeney. With Axl suspended from school, there was absolutely nothing for her to look forward to. No Axl waiting to walk her to her next class, no Axl to sit with her at lunch, no Axl to give her a ride home from school.

Groaning, Delaeney opened the front door and lazily closed it. Gymnastics hadn't been giving her anytime to relax lately. Coach was so sure that they were going to make it to Nationals that she had decided to keep them three hours after practice really ended. Now, Delaeney had to make up excuses to why she was coming home so late, and, if they did get into Nationals, she would have to either tell them what she had been doing for the past few years or continue to… stretch the truth.

Wandering into the kitchen, Delaeney did a double take as she stared at Axl's form at the table doing homework.

"Am I imagining this?" Delaeney asked aloud and her jaw dropped even further when Axl nodded his head, "You're joking."

"Nah," Axl shook his head and looked up from his textbook, tilting his head when he noticed a bruise forming on her cheek, "Woah, what happened to your face?"

Delaeney self-consciously touched her cheek and winced as she poked the tender skin, "Oh, I got hit in the face with a book."

"What?"

"Yeah," Dealeney laughed nervously, "Some kids were too excited to leave class. Anyway, why are you doing your homework?"

"I'm planning to drop out of school," Axl casually said as he stretched his arms above his head, "Dad's work pays great and I could probably buy my own apartment soon."

Delaeney furrowed her brows as she looked at Axl. This was all new to her and she wasn't quite sure if she liked what he was planning. They had been going out for a few months now and he was already planning on leaving just because he got a job that paid well? Delaeney mentally scoffed, her babysitting job paid great and she _knew_ she had enough money to leave and buy her own apartment.

"Uh," Delaeney blinked rapidly, "I'm gonna go and let you rethink your statement. Call me back when you are actually thinking rationally."

As Delaeney walked away, Axl could only watch her go, confused on why she was behaving like that. He had planned out everything and she though he wasn't thinking rational. He was going to be buying _them_ an apartment and she wasn't okay with that? Axl scoffed before going back to his homework. Delaeney would see that he had everything planned.

~8~

 _The truth is, as a parent, you're going to be using everything in your arsenal._

 _Common sense, prayer, even a little magic._

 _Cause in this universe, somethings are explainable._

 _Like why the most selfish man in the whole world would end up paying for a Girls Cross-Country team._

 _And some things are unexplainable._

* * *

 **So, my schedule had cleared up and there will be more updates.**

 **jeffhardyluvsme: Thank you!**

 **Guest (Straightouttabed): Thank you!**

 **Please review! More reviews= faster updates**

 **See you soon,**

 **Ana**


	31. Foreign Exchange

_What is the perfect American family?_

 _Who knows exactly?_

 _I do know, out here in the middle, it's something we all strive for._

"Get your heads out of your butts." Frankie called as she walked down the hallway, "Move. We are not going to be late for church."

 _Yeah, we're still striving._

Delaeney sighed and rested her head in between Axl's shoulder blades as he argued with Sue. Honestly, if Frankie wanted to get to church on time then she should have woken them up earlier. Delaeney ran her fingers through her shoulder-length auburn hair and smiled. Ever since she got it cut it had been so much easier to manage and she loved that.

"I am sick of this, Axl." Sue cried as she stood face to face with him. Delaeney rolled her eyes as another argument began to go down. And what time was it anyways, she glanced at the clock and sighed, eight thirty, "You are always moving the arrow to my name."

"It's your turn! It was my turn to load the dishwasher yesterday." Axl exclaimed, trying to move slightly. He didn't want to disturb Delaeney because he knew that she had probably fell asleep by now.

"Mom brought home pasta bread bowls. We ate the dishes. So, that makes it your turn. So, ha."

"Well, it's not my fault Mom's too lazy to cook. It's not my problem, it's your problem. Oh, swoosh! Nothing but net. Game over. Ehh!"

"What if I just do the dishes?" Delaeney asked, her voice soft and her eyelids heavy for she was exhausted. Sue and Axl looked at her, Axl craned his neck, before the two of them immediately began to shake their head.

"Now look what you've done!" Axl said as he pulled Delaeney around so that her face was pressed against his chest, "You're making her do your work."

"Me!" Sue gasped, "If you hadn't changed the arrow to my name, none of this would have happened!"

"Okay, would you two stop it?" Frankie asked as she stared at her two competing kids and pulled on her coat, "That's the whole reason I made the stupid chore chart is to avoid all this."

"Tell him. It's his turn." Sue demanded as she turned around to face Frankie and Frankie couldn't help but mentally awe as she watched her son press a kiss to the top Delaeney's head as she snuggled closer to him.

"I am sorry." Frankie said as she stormed into the kitchen, "I don't know whose turn it is to do what and we're in a hurry, so the arrow decides." Frankie hit the arrow and Delaeney peaked her head out to see it land on Sue.

"Sweet."

"Not fair. Spin again."

"The arrow has spoken. I am not kidding." Frankie yelled as she finally lost her temper at the two. Sometimes she wished that they were as passive as Delaeney and other times… well, she would have to think for the other times.

"You heard your mother!" Mike yelled as he entered the kitchen and stared at the three teens, "Why am I yelling?"

"Dishwasher."

"What's the matter? You're both adults. It's time you start acting like it." Mike lectured and Delaeney unwound herself from Axl to look at her parents, "That the general idea of what you were going for?"

"Oh, great." Frankie huffed as she slammed her coffee cup down, "Brick's in the front seat. He's probably seconds away from putting the car in gear, so go."

With a quick glance at Mike and Frankie, Delaeney grabbed Axl's hand and led him to the car, knowing that if he stayed he would start another argument with his dad, mom, or Sue.

~8~

Delaeney rested her head against Axl's shoulder and closed her eyes, letting the Reverend's words flow through her ears. She wasn't sure if she actually heard what he was saying but she did know that the soothing voice was making it harder for her to stay awake. A sharp jerk caught her attention and her eyes fluttered open before they landed on Sue and Axl.

"When you load the dishwasher, I didn't rinse my plates. You really got some nasty scraping ahead of you." Axl teased as he elbowed Sue in the side, smirking when she elbowed him back.

 _Normally, Sue would let things slide and just take it, but it was her time of the month: the time when she gets her braces tightened._

Delaeney watched as Sue yanked at Axl's ear and Axl gasped in pain.

"Mike." Frankie said and Mike quickly reached over and slapped the back of Axl's head.

"Love your sister."

"Now, bless you all, and we hope to see you next Sunday." With the Reverend's final closing words, Delaeney and the rest of the Hecks' stood up and headed out the door, not knowing that Frankie had been caught behind.

~8~

"Listen, guys," Delaeney looked up as Frankie rushed into the room and placed the phone on the counter, "That was the Reverend. He says there's a bunch of foreign exchange students still available."

"I'm sure there are." Mike said and Frankie gave him a light scoff.

"Remember at church today? I was talking to Nancy Donahue." Frankie smiled brightly as she looked at her family, "Oh, man. She said it's a very rewarding experience that makes kids more tolerant. Our kids could use some more tolerance."

"And guess what. There's a kid in Japan who would love to come to Indiana." Frankie said and Delaeney rolled her eyes. It's not that she didn't want a foreign exchange student, she just knew that they were too busy to actually have them.

"Why?" Axl and Delaeney said at the same time. Not knowing why a kid would want to come to Indiana of all places.

"Foreign exchange kid?" Mike looked suspiciously at Frankie as he crossed his arms, "We have enough trouble paying attention to the kids we have."

"Do we get to exchange someone? Because I vote for Axl." Sue sneered as she looked towards her annoying brother.

Delaeney pouted before wrapping her arms around Axl's shoulders and pulling him back so that he was resting on her chest, "No."

"I'm in." Brick said and Frankie looked at him as though he had just told her the best news she had ever heard, "This is way better than the dog you wouldn't let me get. Can we name him Rex?"

"Guys, guys, it's not about that." Frankie cried as she threw her hands up in the air, exasperated, "This is about us hosting someone; making a difference. We'd be like a pebble that makes a tiny ripple that becomes this big wave." Frankie looked at each of her family member, "A wave that starts in Orson and becomes bigger and bigger, all the way to Japan."

Mike gave Frankie a pointed look as he crossed his arms, "Those big waves are called tsunamis, and they don't like them."

"Mike, I'm serious." Frankie said as she gave a sigh, "We have a real opportunity here. We'll be like ambassadors. Then he goes out in the world and tells people how great it is here and pretty soon, America's popular again. Come on, Mike. I talked you into hummus and you ended up liking that."

"I'm down," Axl suddenly said and Delaeney jumped in surprise, "But as long as it's a super-hot girl from Finland or Sweden."

Delaeney's pout went out even further and she gave Axl a sharp nudge to the side. She was not okay with his idea of a foreign exchange student.

"I'm okay if it's a super-hot guy from England or Germany," Delaeney shot back, ignoring the look of disgust that donned Axl's face.

"No, no, no," Axl shook his head as he leaned further back against Delaeney's chest. "No hot guys."

"Then no hot girls."

"Hey," Frankie interrupted the arguing couple, "You get what they give you, just like we did with you guys. Except you, Laynee."

~8~

 _The day had finally arrived._

 _The house was clean._

 _The kids were clean._

 _I even got Mike to power-wash all the cobwebs off the screens._

 _Yep, I should've done this years ago._

"God, this is so exciting." Sue said as she smiled at Frankie, "We're actually in the international section of the airport. Those people over there just got off the plane from Toronto. Canada."

Delaeney couldn't help but smile at Sue's excitement as she stared around the busy airport. She had never gone on a plane ride, well, not one that she remembered. She looked around until her eyes landed on a short, Asian boy that had stopped in front of her family.

"Takayuki?" Frankie asked as she approached the boy, "Hey, you made it! I don't know if you're a hugger, but you're going to get one. Welcome to America." Frankie pulled back before she started to introduce the family, "Uh, I'm Frankie. This is Mike. Axl, Delaeney, Sue, and Brick. We are your family."

"Okay." Takayuki said as he glanced around at the family in front of him. Turning her head, Delaeney noticed that Axl didn't look exactly pleased to see the boy in front of him.

Stepping on her tippy toes, Delaeney whispered in her ear, "Smile, please."

Axl gave her a blank look before smiling sarcastically at her, letting the act drop as soon as he turned his head again. As they got the car seating arranged, Delaeney groaned as she realized that she would have to sit on Axl's lap on the way home since their car didn't have enough seats to carry seven people at once.

Huffing, she followed the family outside knowing one thing.

It was going to be a long car ride.

~8~

Delaeney went to bed as soon as she got home, not bothering to eat dinner. She hadn't been getting much sleep the past week because of all the studying she had to do to get into school. Princeton was her top choice but the grades were demanding and she wasn't always able to get what they looked for. Sure, she had a nice report card, but it wasn't all A's, there were some B's and she once got a C.

The next day at school hadn't been that great for the three of them, Takayuki had apparently embarrassed Axl in front of the most popular girl in school, not that Axl cared- he had told her that. And through the week, things hadn't been going so great with the family members. They had tried to tell Frankie this but she wouldn't listen to them.

For the next few days, Delaeney had to camp out at her friend, May's house. She had told Frankie and Mike that she was working on a class project, and Frankie didn't really care because it gave them more room to fit everyone in the car, but in reality, she had been practicing for gymnastics. Their next competition had been coming up and coach wanted them practicing every day. She couldn't practice at home because everyone would get too suspicious and May had offered if she wanted to sleepover for the rest of the week.

Coming back home was interesting. No one seemed to be upset with Takayuki and everyone was getting along just fine. Delaeney sighed in relief as she collapsed on Axl's bed. She had missed sleeping in his room and she swore that he had the comfiest bed.

 _We never got to Brown County._

 _But the rest of Takayuki's visit just flew by._

 _Turns out he liked to fix stuff._

 _Fixed our lawn mower, the toaster, put batteries in the smoke detectors, and it turns out we did have picture-in-picture on the TV._

 _In the end, I think he had a good time._

 _I think._ _I don't know._

 _The point is, he enriched our lives._

 _And I'd like to think we enriched his._

* * *

 **Thank you for the reviews!**

 **jeffhardyluvsme: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. Axl and the rest of the family will be finding out about the gymnastics soon enough.**

 **Please review!**

 **See you soon,**

 **Ana**


	32. Halloween

**Please read bottom.**

* * *

 _Out here in the middle- Halloween's huge!_

 _The trick-or-treating, the costumes._

 _But our favorite thing is the night we all get together as a family to carve pumpkins._

"Why am I the only one carving a pumpkin?" Frankie exclaimed and Delaeney looked up from the book she was reading to raise her eyebrow at Frankie. It's not like Delaeney didn't want to care pumpkins, she really did, it's just that she couldn't stand the _cold, mushy_ feeling of the inside of the pumpkin. Delaeney shuddered. Even thinking about it gave her the chills.

"I'll put the candle in," Delaeney stated as closed her book, making sure she placed her bookmark in first. Axl scoffed from beside her as he stared down at the phone in his hand. Delaeney furrowed her brows and tilted her head to the side, wondering what on earth on that phone was so interesting.

She wasn't going to lie. Delaeney was a bit insecure about her relationship with Axl. They had only been together for a few months and she knew that this had to be one of the longest relationships Axl had ever had. Unless you counted Morgan as a relationship, Delaeney shuddered at the thought. Anyway, Delaeney couldn't help be nervous when it came to Axl and other girls. She knew that there were so many other girls out there who were a million times prettier than she was. Sighing, Delaeney stood up from her place at the table and stretched. She rolled her eyes at the insecure thoughts that ran through her head, even though there were other girls, Axl would never cheat on her. He wouldn't, right?

"FY your information, Laynee and I are going to a totally rocking haunted house that Darren heard about." Axl said and Delaeney attention snapped to him when she heard her name.

"We are?" Axl had never mentioned this to her before. Pausing, a moment of realization washed over her as she realized that that was who Axl was probably talking to. She silently cursed herself for being so wary.

"It's run by people who work in a morgue, so there's gonna be real blood and actual body parts." Delaeney cringed when she heard that, "They don't Tweet the address till Halloween night cause they move it every year, or else the cops will shut it down. Seriously, it's illegally gross."

"That does sound rockin, but who's gonna take Brick trick-or-treating now that Dad and I have a very fun- keep your mind open- costume party to go to."

"I'll stay." Delaeney immediately pipped, not wanting to go to the haunted house at all. Seriously, she couldn't even watch _Ghost Adventures_ without having nightmares. There was no way she was going to be able to survive a real haunted house.

"What? No." Axl shook his head, not wanting to miss this chance to look like the 'knight-in-shining armor' to Delaeney, "He can tag along if you want. You like severed fingers?"

"Who doesn't." Brick responded with a smile as Delaeney gagged at the thought.

"You don't." Frankie stated as she gave Axl a disappointed look, "Dad and I will take you trick-or-treating before the party. I'll get the aunts to come hand out candy. They're old. They like kids again."

~8~

"You hear about that bus crash on the interstate yesterday?" Delaeney absentmindedly listened to Axl as she followed him into the house, her hand loosely holding his. Ever since Axl heard about this 'haunted house' that's all that he wanted to talk about. He had even managed to get Sean and Darren to go with him. "They got there before the paramedics and swiped a couple of bodies."

"I heard no one's ever gotten through without barfing." Sean said and Delaeney couldn't help but groan. She honestly didn't even know how Axl had managed to convince Sean to go. He was, like, the least person she would have expected to agree. "Mrs. Heck, nice to see you."

"I heard Delaeney tell Michelle from Algebra about how gnarly-"

"I said gross, not gnarly." Delaeney interrupted but Axl ignored her.

"It's gonna be, and she wants to come. Best part: she'll bring some of her hottie friends."

"Wait," Darren said as he _thought,_ Delaeney didn't know that he could do that, about what Axl had just said, "Do we really want chicks there? They'll get all scared."

Delaeney wasn't even going to bother defending herself because she knew it was true. Once again, she had gotten scared when the pop tarts had jumped out of the toaster and started crying. But, hey, at least she could do an ariel without getting scared.

"Dude, think about it. Girls get scared, throw up all over the place, look to us for comfort. Boom! We're making out with them." Axl said before smiling at his 'genius' plan.

"That's just disgusting, Axl," Delaeney stated as she took a sip of her Pepsi, "You really want to kiss me after I've just thrown up."

Axl shrugged, "I just want to kiss you in general."

Delaeney blushed and grabbed her bag "I'm going to my room."

~8~

Even though her eyes were closed, Delaeney could feel Axl pouting.

"Please, Laynee." Axl asked again and Delaeney sighed heavily, it wasn't like her answer was going to change from the past six times he had asked her.

"No, Axl. Just go and have fun! Tell me how it is. I just don't want to see dead bodies and blood every time I close my eyes."

"Fine."

That had been six hours ago, and now, at eleven o'clock at night, Delaeney couldn't help the smirk that crossed her face. Oh, she knew that Michelle was a horror-story fanatic and that she had stayed up reading old tales of car rides in the dark. She also knew that Michelle was one to freak out when somebody sneezed. It was funny, though. Axl had left pouting and had come back pouting.

"How was it?" Delaeney teased and she couldn't help but cackle as the pout on Axl's face grew.

"Oh, shut up." Axl said as he pulled Delaeney into his arms and gave her a kiss, and Delaeney couldn't help but smile.

"That was totally better than a throw up kiss." Axl stated and Delaeney couldn't help but bark a laugh. Maybe going to a haunted house with Axl next year wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

 **I'm BAAACCCCKKK! The next chapter is going to be shorter. I couldn't find a good way to blend Delaeney in. Thank you all for being so patient.** **Please review, guys! They really mean a lot to me and keep me going. Constructive criticism is very helpful and welcome!** **Every one of your ideas mean a lot to me so don't be afraid to review or PM me.**

 **I just wanna say that I really love all you guys and I feel like I haven't been showing my appreciation for you to you. You guys are honestly the best, and each and every single one of you have a place in my heart. Without you, I probably would've stopped writing this story months ago and the fact that you've all been so kind and supportive really means a lot to me.**

 **Guest (Straightouttabed): Thank you! I'm glad you love it!**

 **ReadLikeHermione: Thank you! I'm glad you love it!**

 **setummins: I promise that this story will be finished. When, I don't know, but it will be!**

 **Pollyyatesx: Thank you! I'm glad you like it! xxx**

 **dempseys: Thank you so much! That's means a lot to me.**

 **RedPlanetGalaxy: I'm so glad you like it!**

 **See you soon.**

 **Ana**


	33. A Birthday Story

_Is there anything better than a surprise party?_

 _The only hard part's keeping the secret, but when you pull it off, it's something no one ever forgets._

 _Yep, everyone loves a surprise party._

~8~

Delaeney couldn't help but cringe at the amount of children that rested in the Heck household. She knew that Brick had invited his whole class, but that didn't mean that she hadn't wished that his class only held, like, ten people.

"I'm gonna go back into my room." Delaeney said, grabbing a handful of candy before she exited the dining room.

It's not that she didn't like kids. No, it was quite the opposite, she loved them. She wanted to have a nice sized family- three was the max and one was the min- but she couldn't handle over five kids in a room. They get too loud and demanding, always wanting more than they needed and getting so _jealous_ when she directed her attention to another kid. She had learned this from her many years of babysitting party's.

It was tiring and taxing, but she made good money doing it. And she needed the money if she wanted to go to Princeton.

~8~

"What's all over your vest?" Frankie asked and Delaeney looked up from her spot on the floor. Brick's party had just ended and the family was relaxing in the living room.

"Nacho cheese. Man, I am basically running that place." Axl groaned as he reached down and grabbed the leftover slice of cake that Delaeney had saved for him.

"Hey, Axl, I finally heard about the day I was born." Brick announced with a bright smile and Delaeney hid the snicker beneath her hand. Oh, she knew that Frankie and Mike hadn't told Brick the true story, it was too embarrassing for them. Taking home the wrong _baby_.

"Sweet." Axl stuffed his face with a piece of cake, "Now I can finally go swimming at the Fergusons'."

"Fergusons?" Brick looked towards Frankie and Mike, confused, "Who are the Fergusons?"

"Damn it, Axl." Frankie snapped and Delaeney couldn't hold in the laugh that had been brewing in her chest. "You had to blow it. He bought it. We were in the clear. It had heart. It had funny. Great attention to detail. The sauerkraut by the sink? I pulled that out of my-"

"You had to make up a story where I looked like an idiot?" Mike finally spoke, "I won't pay ten bucks for parking? I'm cheap and a wuss? This is a football scar. From _football._ Not passing out."

"This is the unicorn all over again." Sue stated and Delaeney's attention rapidly changed from one person to another as everybody began to join into the conversation. Honestly, telling Brick the truth would've been better.

"You made all that up?" Brick exclaimed as he stood up, "All right. No one gets out of this room until I get the real story. The true, non-made up, actual, fact-based story." Plopping down, Brick crossed his arms, "I'm waiting."

"All right, Brick. We'll tell you the real story of the day you were born." Frankie sighed and Delaeney snuggled up to Axl as he sat down next to her.

"I'm gonna need a beer for this."

 _So, that was that, then._

 _We were finally gonna tell Brick the truth._

"Okay, Brick, it happened this way." Frankie began, "It was raining and snowing- one of those weird Indiana snow-rains that we get no and then…"

~8~

"You took the Ferguson's room?" Brick asked, his eyes alight with excitement and shock. "That's terrible."

"Yes, it is." Frankie said before murmuring to Mike, "Should we just stop here?"

"Let's just power through to the end."

Frankie sighed, "So, a quick twenty-seven hours later, during which your dad was very manly and did not pass out, I was holding my sweet, new baby boy in my arms."

~8~

"You brought home the wrong baby?" Brick exclaimed, "How could you not know it wasn't me?"

"I figured your mom would know." Mike admitted and Delaeney gave a snort. She remembered when all this went down. She hadn't realized what was happening at first, but in the end, she thought that it was the funniest thing that had ever happened in her life.

"Mother, Father, thank you for your delayed honesty." Brick said with all the seriousness a nine-year-old could muster, "I'll be in my, formerly Blake's, room."

Delaeney watched as Brick headed up to _Blake's_ room and sighed, turning towards the family.

"Well, that went well."


	34. A VERY important note

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ!

I BEG OF YOU!

So, you're all probably thinking that I've abandoned these stories and am carrying on with life.

Well, not exactly.

I am currently heading to my first year of college (whoo!) and am trying to cope with the work load that has been placed on me. I do not like not being able to write but it is something that must be sacrificed (sadly) in order to get good grades.

However, there is good news!

I am transferring all my stories so that they are also on Wattpad (so there will pictures of the people yay!) but DONT WORRY they will also be here on fanfic. Both will be updated.

username for wattpad: UnderTheStars94

So, yeah! These stories will be updated if I ever find the time. Probably on Friday or Saturday I will pick two of my stories to update. Which one, I don't know.

Thanks for sticking with me,

Ana


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